Perfect for the Role
by MuggleBeene
Summary: Albus Potter wanted to be different than what was expected of a son who looks exactly like his father.  From Hogwarts to now, he never expected it would turn out that way.  Short story collection. Part of the Professor Muggle series.
1. The Wrong House

The Wrong House (2017)

Albus Potter sat on the stool in the middle of the Hogwarts Great Hall with the Sorting Hat on his head. The entire time he had been on the Hogwarts Express, sitting with his cousins Rose and Dominique, his brother James had continued teasing him that he would be in Slytherin. Rose had acted just like Aunt Hermione and worried that she wouldn't be in Gryffindor, especially after Uncle Ron told her he'd disown her if she wasn't sorted there. So much pressure. Instead of wondering which house he would soon be placed in, though, all he could think of was how heavy the hat was and that it smelled somewhat like his Mum's Quidditch gloves after he'd left them out in the rain.

"The reason I smell that way is that I'm quite old, young Mister Potter. Now, which house should I place you in? An equal fit in all of the houses, the mind's there for Ravenclaw, brave enough for Gryffindor, the cunning of a Slytherin…but I don't think that's best. Hmm...lot to live up to, son of the most famous Gryffindor, named after two Headmasters, one a Slytherin…

"Not Slytherin."

"Not Slytherin, eh? Like father, like son. Agreed. You need to find your own path, and for that, my boy, there's only one place for you at Hogwarts, and that is…HUFFLEPUFF!"

As soon as Albus' eyes adjusted to the light of the Great Hall he noticed all of the shocked faces. His older brother sat slack-jawed at the Gryffindor table, his hand resting on the open seat next to him that he fully expected to be filled by Albus. Slowly he stood up, and after a few steps the Hufflepuff table exploded into applause. A voice could be heard above the din in an excited voice saying "We got a Potter! We got a Potter!"

Albus walked slowly, scanning the students at the Hufflepuff table, searching for a familiar face, but there weren't any. A very tall boy with black hair stood up and motioned Albus towards an empty seat at the table, which Albus took quickly.

"Don't worry, Albus. We'll take care of you. That lot will calm down eventually. I'm Angus McDubh."

Albus noticed the Prefect's badge on Angus' robes and nodded, but his head was swimming. He had been worried that he would be sorted into Slytherin, but he had never expected Hufflepuff, of all houses. What had the Sorting Hat said, he needed to go his own path or something? If that was the case, why not Ravenclaw? Wasn't he smart enough?

Somewhere in the corner of his mind that was still paying attention to the sorting he heard Professor Longbottom say "Rose Weasley," and Albus was jolted out of his thoughts. He watched his cousin walk over to the stool, and after the sorting hat was placed on her head it almost immediately placed her in Ravenclaw. Maybe that was what the hat was talking about; his path would be in Hufflepuff because Rosie was now in Ravenclaw. He wondered what Uncle Ron would say.

A piece of paper came across the table and was shoved under Albus' face. He looked up at a girl who had blue hair and a giant smile on her face. Before he could ask what was going on, though, Angus took the paper angrily and shook his finger at the girl.

"None of that. He's a regular first year."

Albus looked up to Angus and sighed. At least the Prefect understood. He hoped his Mum and Dad would understand, but at least his godparents would be happy. He glanced over to the staff table and saw Hank Boyd, or Professor Muggle as everyone called him, nod at him, and Al barely raised his hand in a small wave. Well, his godfather would be happy no matter what, but his godmother would be ecstatic. 

After the feast Albus watched Dominique walk with James towards Gryffindor tower, and he saw James wave while shaking his head. Just one more thing his brother could tease him about. He realized that his first year housemates were leaving him so he walked quickly, taking care to get as close to Angus as possible. As they walked towards the Hufflepuff common room entrance Albus noticed that the girl with the blue hair was next to him, and as he caught her eye she looked away quickly, but then looked back.

"Sorry."

Albus shrugged. "It's ok. James said it would happen. I don't mind."

"I'm Penny. Penny Gilp."

"I'm Al. Nice to meet you, Penny."

The continued walking until they'd reached the Hufflepuff common room, and then Angus quieted everyone. Al watched the older boy look over his new housemates, and it was then Al realized that several of the students were looking at him.

"Right then, you lot. Here's how it works." Angus took a deep breath. "The boys dorm is to the left, girls dorm is to the right. Your trunks are already in your rooms. Don't miss breakfast, and besides stroking the peach in the painting there's a password to get in to the common room. The password is 'gabba gabba hey,' and if you forget it you'll be out of luck."

"What does that mean? Is it a spell?" A boy with long brown hair a few feet away from Al looked up to Angus. "I've never heard of that one."

Angus shook his head. "No, it's not a spell. Professor Muggle gives us crazy passwords, usually from Muggle songs or stuff like that. It's a contest, and he gives the person who figures it out a treat of some kind. Just remember it and you'll be fine. Ok, off to your rooms now."

Al headed with the rest of the boys towards the dorms, and after a couple of wrong rooms he finally found his trunk in the bedroom that sat the farthest away from all the other rooms, as it was at the end of the hallway. He was the second of the roommates to arrive, and after taking off his robe and hanging it up he looked over to the boy whose bed was next to his. A small, scrawny looking boy with sandy-blonde hair sat on the bed and was writing a note with a Muggle ink pen like his godfather always used. Before he could say anything the boy looked over to him.

"Do, um, do you think I'll have to use a quill?"

Al shrugged. "Dunno, probably. Are your parents Muggles?"

The boy nodded. "I just thought I was weird until we got the letter. Headmaster Titus and Professor Boyd came and talked to my Mum and Dad and explained everything." The boy sat down his ink pen. "I'm Jeff, Jeff Flanagan."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Al Potter."

"Did Professor Boyd come and talk to your parents, too?"

Al shook his head. "No, my parents are wizards."

"Oh yeah, big wizards." The boy with the long hair who had asked Angus the question about the password came in, and after looking around at the trunks settled into the bed the farthest away from Al. "Famous wizards. Big celebrities. Shouldn't you be in Gryffindor like the rest of your family? What'd you do wrong, Albus Severus Potter?"

"I didn't do anything wrong. And I go by Al." Al sat up straighter on his bed, trying to figure out what the kid's problem was.

Before the long-haired boy could say anything else the last roommate appeared. His tie was crooked, shirt untucked, and he was out of breath and sweaty. "I have to be in here, everyplace else is full up."

Jeff meekly pointed towards the empty bed next to Al, and the newly-arrived boy did a belly flop onto his bed, causing everyone except the long-haired boy to laugh. They watched as he sat up, tore off his tie and flung it over his head.

"I hate wearing those things. I'm Will Jensen."

"Will…not your full name, is it?" The long-haired boy cocked his head at an angle. "What did they say before you were sorted?"

Will sighed deeply. "It's Wilberforth. Family name."

"Brian Hadley." The long-haired boy looked at Will and Al, and then motioned to Jeff. "Looks like we've got two celebrities as roommates. The son of The Boy Who Lived and the heir to Wilberforth Jensen's Famous Floo Powder." He turned to Will. "Come on, that's not your full name, is it?"

Will rolled his eyes. "Wilberforth Andronicus Jensen the seventh." After noticing Jeff's expression he shrugged. "It's what happens when your family wants to keep the packaging the same."

Jeff managed a weak smile, and Al knew that he'd have to explain some things later. Brian tone had somewhat irritated Al, as it was almost like the long-haired boy was picking on all of his roommates.

Al looked over to Brian. "So what's your story, then?"

Brian snorted derisively. "Easy. Sorting Hat mucked it up. I shouldn't be in here, I should be in Gryffindor. I'm going to talk to the Headmaster tomorrow and get everything straightened out. Merlin, I'm not even going to unpack. Why bother?"

Jeff looked confused. "What's wrong with Hufflepuff?"

"What's wrong with Hufflepuff? Are you kidding?" Brian looked almost angry. "You must be Muggleborn, which would definitely explain why you're here. Didn't you hear the Sorting Hat song? Gryffindor is for the brave, Slytherin for the cunning, Ravenclaw for the clever and Hufflepuff takes everybody. You know what that means? Hufflepuffs take anybody left over, they're losers."

Al had heard enough. "Shut up, you don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, and you do? Everyone of your family has been in Gryffindor, right Potter?" Brian spit out Al's surname as if it was almost a curse word. "All you know is Gryffindor; you don't know a thing about Hufflepuff."

Now Al was getting angry. "I do too. My godmother was in Hufflepuff, and our head of house is my godfather. And Teddy Lupin, his mum was in Hufflepuff too. And my Dad's told me about Cedric Diggory…don't go mouthing off if you don't know what you're talking about, Hadley."

"No wonder you're in here, Potter. Your godparents are Hufflepuffs and Professor Muggle is your godfather? Makes perfect sense now. It's all setup for you to be the star. I suppose you'll be on the Quidditch team and be the only first year Head Boy in history before Christmas."

Jeff held out his hands. "Come on, guys, it's our first night here. We've got class tomorrow morning!"

Will got off of his bed and started rummaging around in his trunk until he'd procured a set of shockingly loud plaid pajamas. "Well I don't know about you idiots but I'm going to bed. Leave him alone, Potter. After all, he'll be in Gryffindor tomorrow, right? Why waste any breath on him." 

Al sat next to Will in Muggle Studies, near the back, as he didn't want anyone to think that just because Uncle Hank was his godfather he was going to get preferential treatment. As they waited for Professor Muggle to arrive Al reminded himself to call his godfather Professor Muggle like everyone else. While waiting he noticed Will's book bag wasn't actually a bag, it was a dragon hide briefcase with his initials on top in gold letters.

"Wow, nice case!" Al pointed down towards their feet, and after realizing what Al was talking about Will nudged it over with his foot.

"Uh, yeah, I guess. I told Dad that it was too fancy for Hogwarts, but he went on about how we Jensens have to keep up appearances and some rot. I wanted a regular rucksack but he wouldn't let me." Will opened his book and then nudged Al. "Check out Hadley, sitting up there with the Gryffindors. Think they'll actually let him switch houses?"

Al shook his head. "No way. Sorting Hat's never been wrong, has it?"

"Dunno. Never heard of anyone switching houses."

Before either of them could expound on the possibilities of switching houses Professor Muggle walked into the classroom in the tweed suit that Al had seen before, and as expected he was wearing a yellow and black striped bow tie. After setting down his book and a battered looking notebook Professor Muggle turned to the class.

"I'd like you to put away your wands, as we won't need them for Muggle Studies. This class will prepare you for life with Muggles, as there will be times that you will need to blend into the Muggle world. Before we begin I'd like to ask a few questions. How many of you in here have ever been to a Muggle restaurant, shop or any other Muggle establishment?"

Al held up his hand and noticed that only three other hands went up besides him. With his hand in the air Al looked over to Will, who shook his head and had a "are you kidding?" look on his face.

"Very good. You can put your hands down now." Professor Muggle sat on the corner of his desk and looked at them. "Right. Well, for those who are wondering, I was raised in the Muggle world and had no idea that I had any magical ability until I came to Hogwarts, so I'm very well acquainted with how things work for Muggles. The goal of this class is to make you as knowledgeable as possible, so that when, and it will be when, not if you have to mix with Muggles you can do so without raising any suspicion that you are a witch or a wizard. Please turn to page four of your textbook, and we'll get started."

After reading some of the textbook and receiving their first in-class assignment Will and Al worked well together until a small explosion was heard. As he looked toward the origin of the sound Al saw a small puff of green smoke linger in the air around Professor Muggle. His godfather's hair was a slight greenish color. Professor Muggle stood up, walked to the middle of the room carrying a small notebook and from experience Al knew that his godfather was not at all pleased. He elbowed Will and whispered that whoever did it was in big trouble.

Professor Muggle looked around the room. "Ok, then, I see someone has decided to try to have a little fun with me because as it's commonly known that my wand is useless. My wand may not function as well as yours, but I have other ways of making life difficult for you. Trust me, y'all are amateurs compared to the first class that decided to prank me." He took a look at the beaten up notebook and thrust it roughly into the pocket of his jacket. "Its obvious that someone decided not to listen to what I said at the beginning of class about wands, so I'm going to give you something to reinforce my rule. I expect to see half a foot of parchment on Friday summarizing how Muggles do things without wands, part of your assignment this week. You'll find that Chapter One covers this topic quite thoroughly."

As Professor Muggle walked back to his desk Will exhaled slowly and then nudged Al. "That could have been worse."

Al shook his head. "Don't relax yet, he's not done. Trust me; I've been on the wrong end of his lectures before."

Al waited for the other shoe to drop, but class continued on. He'd thought that maybe Professor Muggle was easier in class than the time when he'd accidentally dropped a glass of pumpkin juice on Professor Muggle's records after being told to not be in the office with liquid, but he was wrong. Right before class ended Professor Muggle stood up.

"Remember, a half foot of parchment Monday. And Mr. Hadley? You've just lost five points from Hufflepuff."

Hadley shrugged and looked as if he didn't care. "That's fine; I'm in the wrong house anyway."

Professor Muggle shook his head. "I don't think so, Mr. Hadley. And now it's ten points and detention. Dismissed." 

After surviving Charms and DADA two of Al's three roommates sat together in the common room, and when he joined them they did not look happy.

"I can't believe he did that in class, and to a professor, he's got to be mental." Jeff looked over at his roommates. "I mean, he's a professor!"

"That's nothing; you should hear what happened the first year he taught at Hogwarts. My Uncle George told me those stories. Crazy." Al sat back in one of the comfortable chairs by the fireplace. "He should have kept his mouth shut and it would have only been five points."

"Hey Potter!"

Al turned around to see Angus McDubh walking over towards him, and then when he reached the roommates he sat down on the empty chair by the fire, sinking down so that his head wasn't visible from behind.

"Merlin, it's been a crazy day. I've got a request for you, Potter, and your roommates. Professor Muggle wants you to have dinner with him in his room tonight. There, that's the last of the tasks done. I swear you first years are a troublesome lot this year."

Jeff's eyes were big. "We haven't done anything, sir, honest."

"Sir?" Angus laughed. "I appreciate that but Angus is fine. You're Flannery, right?"

"Close. Flanagan."

Jeff still looked nervous to Al; then again, Jeff always seemed nervous about everything. "Ok, we can do that, Angus." Al paused for a moment. "Um, Angus, did you hear about Hadley? What happened today in Muggle Studies?"

Angus rolled his eyes. "Oh yeah, that was fun. I've already talked to him, and he was determined to talk to Headmaster Titus about trying to switch over to Gryffindor. He's in the Headmaster's office now, actually. Just got back from taking him up there after finding out from Professor Muggle that Hadley's doing his detention with Filch. Wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy."

Will kicked Al's foot and moved his eyes towards the doorway, and when Al looked over he saw that Hadley had walked into the common room, and it was obvious that Hadley wasn't happy. When Hadley noticed Al, Will and Jeff sitting by the fireplace his expression changed and he headed over there.

"It looks like I'm stuck with you rejects. The Headmaster wouldn't listen to common sense, and that prig McDubh tried to tell me that this house is just as good as the others. That's just because he couldn't make it anywhere else."

Will began laughing, and before Al could say anything the head of Angus McDubh rose from behind the chair where he had been slouched down out of sight. "Oh really, Hadley? You know, I know a few things about this castle, especially the places where I could bodybind you and you wouldn't be found for a while."

Hadley turned without saying anything and walked away towards his bedroom. 

"Thanks, Professor Boyd, it was really good. I didn't, um, and, ah..."

"It's quite all right, Jeff. I think you're the first student to not call me Professor Muggle in a couple of years."

Al laughed inside when he heard that, as he knew that his godfather didn't mind being called Professor Muggle at all; in fact, he actually liked it. It had been a nice evening, as Al and his roommates were invited to find some music to put on while they ate, and he got a kick out of hearing what Will and Jeff thought of the crazy Muggle albums that his godfather always listened to. Al wanted to make sure his godfather was in a good mood for the questions he wanted to ask him, so he'd put on an album he knew was one of Uncle Hank's favorites.

After explaining how his godfather made tea without magic, when everyone had settled in next to the fireplace with their tea Al decided that it was the right time to ask his questions.

"Um, Professor, is it possible to get a different roommate?"

Hank pushed his glasses onto the top of his head and looked at Al intently. "I take it you're asking about Brian Hadley? Sorry, boys, but the roommates are set, there's no changing them now."

"Is it true that he asked to move to Gryffindor?" Will seemed as comfortable as Al talking to his professor, something that Al chalked up to the fact that he must have spent a lot of time with adults at his Dad's company.

Hank nodded. "He did. The Sorting Hat has its reasons, even if we don't see them right away. There's a reason that each of you was sorted into Hufflepuff, don't forget that."

Al realized that his godfather was quiet, and knew that he was doing his trick where he would wait for somebody to say something, even though Al knew he had more to say. He was content to wait and see what else would happen, but Will didn't know his godfather like Al did.

"What's his story? He's a right pain in the arse to live with, and we haven't even been here a week." Will looked at his roommates. "Well it's true. I mean, Al he gave you a hard time for not being in Gryffindor like your family, and he said nasty things to Jeff about having Muggle parents."

The boys watched Professor Muggle get up, go over to his desk and come back and sit down with a pipe and a pouch of tobacco. "Boys, this is our secret. Al, I know you know better, but you two…if my wife ever comes to Hogwarts you've never seen me smoke my pipe, right?" After all the boys nodded, Hank packed his pipe and then looked over to Al. After Al used his wand to produce a small flame Hank puffed on it a few times and then sat back. "Ok, I'm going to tell you some things, but you can't let Mr. Hadley know that I've told you. Your roommate didn't have the easiest life before he arrived here. His father was a wizard and his mother is a Muggle, but after his father died of an illness his mother left him with his magical grandparents. He hasn't seen her in a few years. His grandparents, who he lives with, were in Gryffindor and they've probably filled him with stories of how great Gryffindor is. From what Neville, um, Professor Longbottom has told me Brian's father was also in Gryffindor, but besides the fact that he attended Hogwarts we don't see his name anywhere. Melvin, his father, seems to have blended in and not done anything to make a name for himself."

Jeff looked up towards Professor Muggle. "So we need to be nice to him, even though he's being a right git."

Professor Muggle laughed. "How you boys react is up to you. But let me remind you about Hufflepuff values. We work hard, we do things the right way and we are very loyal, but most of all we're tolerant. You've all been sorted into Hufflepuff for a reason, so I think when the time comes you'll know what to do." 

For the next few weeks Albus' room seemed like it was two rooms, Hadley's side and everyone else's. They hardly spoke, and even though Jeff had tried to strike up casual conversations and generally get along, Hadley ignored them. Al noticed that when he was between classes that nobody spoke to Hadley, especially the Gryffindors. James had been unwilling to try and convince some of the older Gryffindor boys to stop giving him a hard time, and he'd had to tell Al that he couldn't help Hadley especially as the boy didn't seem to want any help.

It was after the first Quidditch match of the year, where Slytherin had beaten Ravenclaw that things finally came to a head. Al, Will and Jeff were walking back towards the castle when they saw a group of older Gryffindor boys in a circle pushing someone between them. Al elbowed Will, and the two of them headed towards the Gryffindors, Jeff following closely behind them. As they got closer Al's stomach dropped, as he realized who the person in the middle of the circle was.

Al had his hand in his pocket, feeling for his wand as they came up to the boys. "Hadley, you ok?" .

The tallest boy looked over at Al. "The wannabe? Oh, he's having a blast, aren't you?"

Another boy took out his wand and Al watched as Hadley's limbs shot straight to his side and he fell over frontwards, landing directly on his face.

"Stop it." Will stood next to Al with his wand out. "Go pick on someone your own size."

"Yeah, um, stop it." Jeff stood next to Will and Al noticed that his wand was shaking.

"A bunch of little Hufflepuffs are pointing their wands at me? I'm so scared." The tall boy nonchalantly flicked his wand and Jeff threw down his wand and put his hands to his face in pain.

"Stinging hex, not smart." Al focused on the tall boy and remembered the bat-bogey hex that his mother had taught him, just for "emergencies," and soon the tall boy began flailing his arms about.

After that a female voice said _Expelliarmus_ and everybody's wands flew out of their hands. Al turned to see Professor Petal Farnsworth, his DADA professor, and everyone's wands floated in front of her. From the dark expression on her face he knew this wasn't good. 

Al and his roommates stood in front of Professor Muggle. He watched his godfather look at him and his roommates, pace for a while, return to look at them and pace for a few more moments. Just when Al thought he was going to burst Professor Muggle sat behind his desk in his usual chair.

"Ok, let's get to the bad part first. All of you have detention except for Mr. Hadley. Jensen, Flanagan, you're to report to Hagrid tomorrow night after supper. Potter, I believe Filch has a special task for you, same time as your roommates."

"What about the Gryffindor gits?" Brian Hadley looked to Professor Muggle. "I mean, they started it."

"I'm not sure if they actually started it, Mr. Hadley. After all, haven't you been saying that you'd rather be in Gryffindor? Is that still your wish? The boys you wish to be housemates immobilized you and when you fell you broke your nose. Madam Pomfrey said it was an easy fix, but still. I want you to think about that." Professor Muggle paused and took a deep breath. "Now, they will be punished. I've talked to Professor Longbottom, and he assures me that the appropriate punishment will happen. As I understand it those boys have been troublemakers for quite a while, although they've never done anything in my class. I do want you to know that I am proud that you three stood up for your housemate."

The roommates looked at each other, all of them registering different levels of surprise.

"That doesn't mean I'm letting you off, the detentions still stand." Professor Muggle came over to the boys and sat on the front of the desk. "Three first year boys standing up to three sixth year boys who were doing something wrong to their roommate. That's loyalty. I don't approve of how you dealt with the situation, but you'll do better next time. Mr. Hadley, I want you to think about what happened tonight. Ok, boys, dismissed."

As they left Professor Muggle's room Brian looked over to his roommates. "I'm…I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to get detention."

Will waved it off. "Completely worth it. Did you see their faces when Al hit the big one with the bat-bogey hex? That was brilliant."

"Besides, you're a Hufflepuff." Jeff smiled tightly.

Hadley nodded slowly. "Yeah, I guess I am." 

Later that night Al was almost asleep when he sensed someone close to his bed. He sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"Sorry, didn't know if you were asleep or not." Hadley stood at the foot of his bed. "I just wanted to say I know I've been an arse. I just knew I was going to be in Gryffindor, and…"

"Trust me, I get that one." Al laughed. "You should have heard what happened when my family heard. I'm the first Potter or Weasley not to be in Gryffindor, um, ever. My Dad was happy, and Mum said she was too, but I know she wanted me to be in Gryffindor like her. Things change. An' my cousin Rosie's in Ravenclaw, the second Potter or Weasley to not be in Gryffindor. It's not like it used to be."

"What about your brother? He's in Gryffindor."

"Yeah, but James is a pain. I'm glad I'm not in the same house as him." Even though Al knew he already had detention, he thought this was the perfect time. "Hey Hadley, want to go have some fun?"

"You've already got detention, what are you going to do?" Hadley looked over to his sleeping roommates. "Wouldn't be fair to not take them."

Al smiled. Hadley was starting to come around, just as his godfather has predicted. "Definitely. Wake up Will and I'll get Jeff."

Moments later the pajama-clad boys sat in a circle in the area between their beds, Will's wand lighting the area faintly. They all looked to Al, who placed a piece of parchment on the floor.

"Ok, you all have to swear that you'll never tell anyone about this. Dad doesn't know that I nicked it from his office and anybody who says a single word has to lick the trunk of the Whomping Willow." After they all agreed Al touched his wand to the parchment and said the words "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."


	2. Close Observation

Close Observation

_Christmas Day 2022_

Al woke up first on Christmas morning, as always. Even though he didn't expect to see Father Christmas sitting having a cookie with Kreacher by the tree, as he thought would happen when he was younger, he still liked getting up early. After making his way down to the kitchen Al filled and started the kettle, then walked into the living room and looked under the Christmas tree. As expected a bulky package sat there with his name on it, and after unwrapping the present he made a mental note to thank Granny Weasley; his jumper was different from all of the ones she'd made over the years, as his jumper was a solid black with only a yellow letter A on the shoulder of the right arm. Somehow she'd known that he wanted his jumper to be different than all of the other ones she'd made over the years.

As the kettle began to sing Al slipped the jumper on over his t-shirt and walked back into the kitchen, savoring the quiet moments before everyone woke up and the craziness would begin. As he made his tea Al thought about the schedule for the day, and looked over to the refrigerator to see that, as usual, his mum had made a list of when they had to be everywhere.

_11:00 am – George and Angelina's house (Christmas/brunch)  
3:00 pm – Victoire and Teddy's house (tea)  
5:00 pm – Hank and Melody's house (Christmas/Dinner)_

After looking at the schedule again Al felt his stomach churn; he'd have to wait all evening until they got to Colony House, his godparents' house, until he could bring it up with his parents. He knew his godfather would support him, and his godmother, but he was worried about his parents, especially his mum. Gran and Grandpa Weasley would have been on his side, too, but they were in Romania with Charlie, Tinney and Xavier. Al laughed silently as he thought about his youngest cousin; Granny Weasley said that Xavier was the universe's way of getting back at Charlie for all the trouble he put her through.

"Always the first one up, aren't you?" Lily walked into the kitchen in her robe and sat down at the table with Al. She looked at him oddly. "Did Gran muck up your jumper?"

Al shook his head and turned his shoulder towards her and pointed to the yellow A. "She did it a bit different for me this year."

"Can't do things normally, can you, Al?" Lily shook her head. "You know Mum's going to make you get a haircut."

Al ran his fingers through his hair, which he had let grow out until it was beginning to touch the back of his collar. He swooped his bangs over his head and let the hair fall messily. "I like it. I can always use Uncle Bill as a reference."

"It's not going to work. She'll probably cut it for you before we go to the first Christmas." Lily stirred her cup of tea and a small bracelet clinked against the side of her cup.

Al leaned back in his chair and pointed his spoon at Lily's arm. "Christmas present?"

Lily nodded. "Yes. It's from Graham."

"You should ditch that smarmy git. He's just stringing you along."

"And you would know a lot about that, wouldn't you?" Lily's eyes were bright and Al knew that she was angry. "What about Penny?"

"Penny knows it's casual."

"I don't think so, Al. It's not nice, having her always be the fall-back girl. You've dated her on and off between girls, and every time you ditch her for someone new she ends up coming to me and crying. And every time you break up with the latest she ends up taking you back. You're going to break her heart and soon she's not going to take you back anymore."

Al shook his head at his sister. "You don't understand, Lils."

"You're right, Al. I don't understand how you can be such a thick, thoughtless clod." Lily shook her head at her brother, looking for the world like their mum in Al's opinion.

"So you're the perceptive one in the family, then?" Al leaned forward and put his elbows on the table, looking directly at his sister. "You know how everybody feels, what's best for everyone? If you'd ditch Graham I have a feeling you'd find some interesting developments that you would never see coming."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lily stood up from the table.

"Nothing, Lils. Nothing." Al looked down at his teacup.

"You are moody and weird. I'm going to get dressed. We're leaving soon for the first Christmas so why don't you do us all a favor and go back to sleep? Maybe when you wake up the second time you'll be in a better mood." 

Al ignored his sister's advice, and unfortunately he was moody and irritable for the rest of the day. He decided that the day would be best endured if he practiced his acting, so even though he just wanted to be left alone he put on his smiling, happy face for his family. He endured Christmas at his Uncle George and Aunt Angelina's, and for the most part that event was fairly tolerable; at least his aunt and uncle's house was big enough he didn't have to be right on top of everybody and could sit somewhere on the fringes of the event. This Christmas was a Very Big Event for his mum because it was the last Christmas that James would be at Hogwarts. It was amazing that Al was even related to James, the way they had turned out, as James was the prototypical Gryffindor Weasley/Potter, great at Quidditch, decent grades, a couple of girlfriends here and there but nothing serious while Al wanted nothing more than to get away from Hogwarts for a while, to not be in the spotlight because he was The Boy Who Lived's son and had the exact same eyes.

The one good thing about the Christmas crowd was that he could find time to talk to his Aunt Hermione, who read as many Muggle books as he did. After all the presents had been opened and oohed and aaahed over, he found himself next to his aunt in the kitchen. Unfortunately, though, she hadn't read anything new and didn't have anything for him to borrow, but she did suggest that he talk to his godfather later that day. That made Al feel better, as he just had to make it through this Christmas and then tea at the completely lovey dovey house of the newlywed Lupins and then he could relax. 

After surviving enough kissy face and schmaltzy love to last a lifetime at Ted and Victoire's little cottage Al finally found himself walking up the familiar path to Colony House. Besides getting a chance to talk to his godfather it would be good to see HR, even if he did have to watch HR moon over his little sister. It was obvious to anyone who actually took the time to look that HR had a thing for Lily. Well, maybe not everyone. Ever since Professor Muggle had started the theater group at Hogwarts Al had been watching how people move and react to other people even more closely than usual, and it hadn't taken him long to figure out about HR's feelings for Lily. After asking him about it HR swore Al to secrecy and made him promise never to say anything to his sister.

Not surprisingly Minnie and Mione were the first ones out the door to meet the Potters, specifically Al. Even though he never made a big deal out of it Al knew that James was somewhat jealous of the attention he received from the Boyd twins. As Al let the girls lead him into the house he felt a wave of relief come over him; he'd finally made it to Colony House. Almost immediately that wave of relief vanished as he realized that now it was time for the hard conversation, sometime, but when? After presents, definitely after presents.

As Al sat down on the sofa, the middle of a Boyd twin sandwich, he looked over to see HR glance at Lily and then look away quickly. Sometimes the close attention to other people was a curse; he found that by observing people instead of doing the normal interaction he found out things that he might have been better off not knowing. A perfect example was on the other side of the room, as Professor Muggle and Melody sat a little further apart than usual. Something might have happened between them, and Al was nervous, as he was hoping to have a united front amongst his godparents.

"I like your jumper, Al." Mione looked up to him, smiling broadly as usual.

"Thanks. Gran did mine a little different this year."

"I like the black. It goes with your hair." Minnie slightly blushed on the other side of Al. "Reminds me of when you were in that play last year."

Al nodded and gave her a small smile. He'd really enjoyed being in Romeo and Juliet, even if he did get teased mercilessly when he'd been cast as Romeo and Penny Gilp had been cast as Juliet. He remembered seeing the twins out in the crowd, right up front, and they'd been like shadows for him ever since.

"Girls, have you even introduced Al to everybody?" Melody stood next to the couch and shook her head at her daughters. "They're in your father's office. Go on." 

As Al followed the twins to Professor Muggle's office, one of his favorite places in the world, Mione looked up to him.

"Our cousins are here from the UMS. Well, America, they're Muggles."

"Chip's your age." Minnie filled him in quickly. "An' Paige is Gin's age."

Al heard the music before they entered the room, and once the door opened the sound hit him almost like a wall. "Wow, that's loud."

HR reached over and turned down the volume on his father's record player. "Sorry, didn't want the old people to hear."

Gin handed Al a cup of hot chocolate. "Wouldn't matter anyway. Not like we're making plans to steal Dad's car and go to London." Gin cocked her head to the side slightly. "Actually, that's not a bad idea."

"You sound like Grandpa Arthur." Lily sat on one of the chairs and shook her head. "You'll never get away with it."

"Hey, I am a Slytherin, you know." Gin smiled at Lily. "Give me some time."

"Slytherin? Is that one of the houses?" A skinny blonde boy sat on the floor next to a bookcase. "Oh hey, I'm Chip. That's my sister Paige." He pointed to a petite girl with brown hair.

Al sat in the only empty chair. "Nice to meet you. I'm Al. Yeah, Slytherin is one of the houses as Hogwarts. That lot" Al pointed to James and Lily "are in Gryffindor. HR and I are in Hufflepuff and Gin is in Slytherin. Ravenclaw's the other house."

"And speaking of Slytherin, Virginia, is it not true that you fancy a certain Mister Scorpius Malfoy?" James peered around a lamp to look at Gin. "Well?"

Gin started to blush a little, causing HR to come to her defense. "Scorpius is a decent guy. He puts up with a lot of crap, especially from you Gryffindors, James."

"Yeah, I know. But it's just too much fun to pass up. Besides, I'm almost out of there." James took a drink of hot chocolate. "Can't wait."

"So what are you going to do when you graduate?" Paige looked over to James. "Go to college?"

"Graduate?" James looked to HR, who shook his head.

"We don't graduate over here like you do in America. An' there's no wizarding colleges. You just finish school and start working someplace." HR stopped for a moment. "But I did hear Dad talking to Aunt Hermione about something like a wizarding university one time."

"That's sterling, HR." James rolled his eyes at HR. "To answer the question, I'm going to be a professional Quidditch player. I know it's going to happen, Rosie saw it."

James' statement about Rosie's vision of him as a professional Quidditch player led into a big discussion about how their cousin Rose was a seer, but didn't really tell anybody about her abilities except her cousins and very good friends. After that the conversation seemed to go into what everyone wanted to do when they were finished with school. When it became Al's turn he wasn't sure what he should do.

"Come on, Al, whatya gonna do? Work at the Ministry and make Mum happy?" James threw a paperwad at Al's head, which missed by a mile. "Come on, then. Out with it."

"Yes, Al, what do you want to do?" All eyes turned to see Melody Boyd standing in the doorway. "I was going to tell you that a new batch of cookies is ready, but this is much more interesting."

"Um…" Al looked down at his shoes, studying the laces. "Um, well…"

"Come on, the cookies are getting cold, and they're not burnt this time…oh hello, love." Professor Muggle stood outside the doorway. "I was just, um, shit. I think I'm going to get a cookie now. Um, yeah. That's it. Cookie."

As usual Professor Muggle's inappropriate use of language made everyone laugh except for his wife, who followed him into the kitchen. As everyone else followed along Al could hear her tell her husband that she was a much better cook than when they were married and if he didn't believe it he could fix all of his own meals while Hogwarts was on holiday. 

Everyone stood in the kitchen with plates of warm cookies. Al noticed that his Mum and his godmother were talking and watched them look across the room briefly to him, and then they went back to their conversation.

"So, what do you want to do?"

Al looked over his shoulder slightly to see Paige Boyd standing next to him. "I really don't want to say."

"Is it that bad?" Paige popped a small cookie into her mouth. "It can't be that awful."

"No, it's just…I'm sure my parents won't like it. I want to be an actor."

"That's cool." Paige's tone told him that she didn't realize what that meant in the Wizarding world.

"It's not like that, it's…sorry, you wouldn't understand." Al sighed and looked over to see his godfather talking to his father. "I didn't mean it to come out like that. I…I need to talk to Professor Muggle."

Al walked over to his godfather and tapped him on the arm. Without saying a word he motioned with his head towards the office and luckily his godfather understood. When they entered the office Hank sat on the front of his desk, just like he always did in Muggle Studies.

"So Al, what's going on?"

"I need your help. I want to do something this summer but I don't think Mum and Dad will let me. I need you and Melody to help me convince them to let me go."

Hank rubbed his goatee for a moment. "Before I agree to anything I think you'd better tell me what you want to do this summer."

Al reached into his pocket and pulled out the application form; the form was severely creased from the folds, as it had been in Al's pocket for almost three weeks. "There's an acting workshop in Ireland. It's part of the Fine Arts academy over there, but I know Mum and Dad won't let me go to that. It's the first two weeks after school lets out. You and Mr. Greene said that I'm really good at acting, and I've been working on the exercises that you taught us, but I want to get better. I want to be in the WeasleyVision movies, maybe even Muggle movies."

Hank looked at Al, and then the application. The two week course wasn't cheap, but it wasn't outlandishly expensive. Room and board would be provided, and the main instructor was an actress he'd seen in some of the more popular WeasleyVision movies. He understood why Al was so nervous; becoming an actor was something that didn't guarantee any future earnings, it was very hit or miss. "I see why you didn't want to talk to your parents first. What are you going to do if you don't succeed as an actor? How will you support yourself?"

"I can work in one of Uncle George's shops." Al hadn't actually talked to his uncle, but it was the first thing he could think of.

"Hmm. Ok, why don't you go ask Melody and your Mom and Dad to come into the office?" Hank moved around and sat in his desk chair. "You might ask Melody to open the wine first, might go better." 

Along with his parents and his godmother Al had asked HR to join them in the office, which made everyone, especially the twins, very suspicious. HR told them it had something to do with Hufflepuff and they could just relax. Melody had brought the wine as Hank suggested, and everyone was seated except for Al, who couldn't sit still.

"Ok, why are we all in here? Al, it must be pretty bad if you had Melody open the wine." Harry looked over to his son, who seemed very pale at the moment. "It can't be your History of Magic grades, those are going up."

HR and Al exchanged quick glances. Al knew that if it wasn't for HR he wouldn't pass that class, let alone have better grades. "No, it's not that. Um…I need your permission to do something this summer. For two weeks, that's it. Mum, Dad, I want to go to Ireland to an acting workshop. I want to be an actor after I leave Hogwarts."

"An actor?" Ginny Potter's face was strained. "An actor? Albus, really? How will you support yourself? Wouldn't a job in the Ministry be better? Think of the security you'd have in the Ministry."

"I could work at one of Uncle George's shops until I get established." Al looked over to his godfather, but he didn't receive any of the expected help. "And this is just a two week workshop right at the beginning of the summer so there's no way I'd miss any classes. Hank and Mike Greene said that I'm really good, an' Mike was a Muggle acting teacher before he moved here. I was Romeo and I got the lead in the next play. I want to be in WeasleyVision movies. I can do it. Please?"

Ginny shook her head. "Absolutely not. Albus acting isn't a very stable profession, what would…"

"It's because I'm a Potter, isn't it?" Al was getting angry. "It wouldn't be proper for Harry Potter's son to be an actor. Have to live up to what's expected. Everybody expects that I'm going to go into the Ministry or be an Auror like Dad, but that's not me. You got to do what you wanted to do, Mum. You played for the Harpies and Dad went into the Aurors. Why can't I do what I want to do?" Al closed his eyes and stuck his hands into his pockets.

"Al, why don't you and HR give us a moment and let us talk about this." Harry looked over to his son, and then to Hank.

Without saying anything Al and HR left the office, HR trailing as Al angrily walked out of the room and then out of the house. 

Al and HR stood in the shed. Al hadn't said anything the entire walk out to the garden, and HR knew him well enough to not say anything. Finally, after what seemed an eternity to HR, Al looked over to him.

"Sorry, mate. Didn't mean to ruin Christmas."

"You didn't ruin Christmas, Al. I just wish you would have told me."

"I know. I should have told you. No more secrets, ok?"

"Yeah, no more secrets." HR took off his glasses. "So what do you think's going on in there?"

Al sighed. "Mum's still pitching a fit, Dad's trying to calm her down and your Dad's trying to help out. Your mum will probably wait until everybody's done arguing and then say something that will make Mum cry. You know, like when I got my History of Magic grades last year."

"Yeah. You're probably right." HR hesitated. "We're going to keep your grades this year just between us, though. Gotta keep that secret."

"Mmmhmm. Definitely." Al wasn't sure if he should, but everything was crashing around him. "You don't have to keep Lily a secret anymore, HR. I know you fancy her."

"Bloody hell!" HR took off his glasses. "How do you know?"

"I'm studying to be an actor, HR. I watch how people act around other people. It's pretty obvious. Well, to me anyway."

"Don't say a word, Al. If you do I'll tell your Mum about you and Penny and…"

Al thought immediately about how HR had covered for him the night he and Penny had spent camping last summer. "Right, right! No worries. I won't say anything." Al looked over at the Muggle lawn mower for a very long time. "How long should we stay out here?"

"Dunno. We could probably head back in. Get ready, though, I bet the twins are going to ask you a ton of questions." 

HR was right, as the two of them met Minnie and Mione on their way back to the house. As the four of them took off their coats and hung them up, Melody came over to them.

"Girls, why don't you help your Aunt Candice with tea? Al, it's ok. Come on."

Al and HR followed Melody into the office, and surprisingly his Mum didn't look like she wanted to ground him for life.

"Albus?" Harry looked over to him. "Your mother and I have talked, and we want you to know we're letting you go to Ireland on a trial basis." He held up his hand to stop Al from speaking. "Your Uncle Hank has agreed to talk to your instructor after the workshop, and if they think you have promise we can discuss plans after that. We want you to make sure that this is something you want to do for the rest of your life, and realize how difficult it may be. You're also going to pay for the workshop by working in your Uncle George's shop. We'll give you the money to pay for it but you'll pay us back."

"A couple of things first." Ginny looked over to her son. "You have to keep your grades up for the rest of the year and you're getting a haircut. And please stop playing your Muggle music so loudly at home! Oh, and your room has been a mess while you're home over holiday, I expect to have that cleaned as soon as…

Al didn't let her finish, he went over and hugged her. After hugging his father and his godparents he turned to them. "Whatever you want, Mum. That's fine, I'll do it. Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

When Al left the office it seemed as if he was walking on air; he never expected it to go that easy! "HR, I've got to do something nice for your Mum and Dad. I'm sure they convinced them to let me go."

"So, what happened?" Mione stood in the living room, blocking the boys' return. "Are you in trouble?"

"No." Al smiled broadly. "I'm going to Ireland this summer." 

The Hufflepuff common room was full of students as everyone had just returned from the Christmas holiday. Al sat with HR by the fireplace as three familiar faces joined them.

"So Potter, how was your holiday?" Will Jensen unceremoniously slumped into an overstuffed chair. "Before you ask mine was horrible. Mum and Dad are finally getting divorced, but for some reason she thinks I want to live with her. You had to have a better holiday than me."

Al turned to Will. "I'm sorry to hear about that."

Will snorted derisively. "I'm not. They've been at each other's throats for years. My mum's a right piece of work. Ask Hadley."

Al looked over to Hadley, one of his other roommates, who nodded. "I went home with Will for holiday. Let's just say it wasn't pleasant. Well, Boxing Day was ok." Hadley glanced over to Will, who shook his head slightly.

"My Christmas was actually pretty boring. Just the normal stuff." Jeff shrugged. "Well, Muggle stuff anyway. I did get a new Hufflepuff scarf, though. Mum was kinda freaked out when it came by owl."

"So who sent you a new scarf?" Al watched Jeff look immediately at his shoes and guessed right away. "Lindsay Greensplit? Am I right?" Al had noticed how Jeff seemed to always find a way to sit by the Hufflepuff girl in their year whenever possible.

"Yeah. It was from Lindsay." Jeff scratched his head for a moment. "What about you two?" Jeff motioned towards Al and HR. "Anything good?"

HR laughed a bit. "Ask Al."

"I'm going to Ireland after term ends in June. For two weeks, to an acting workshop." Al ran his hand through his newly-shortened hair. "Mr. and Mrs. Potter finally might be open to the idea that I'm going to be an actor."

"Hello boys." Three Hufflepuff girls walked through the common room and waved at the guys, among them Penny Gilp.

Al looked over his shoulder and nodded, and he noticed that Penny looked at him and then looked away immediately. That was strange. Even when they weren't officially dating, or whatever it was they called it, she always was friendly. Maybe Lily was right about things on Christmas morning. When Al looked back at his roommates and HR, he noticed that Will was studiously playing with his watch.

"Christmas present, Will?" Al leaned back in his chair. "New watch?"

"Um, no." Will didn't look at Al. Instead he looked over to Hadley. "Ready to head up?"

"Sure." Hadley got up from his chair and looked at the rest of them. "Later."

After Will and Hadley left, Al looked over to Jeff. "What was that about?"

"What was what about?" Jeff looked confused. "I think I'm heading up, too."

After his last roommate left Al looked over to HR. "Am I just reading too much into things, or did Will not want to talk to me after the girls came through?"

HR wasn't looking at him, though; he was looking over the top of Al's chair at someone else. Al followed HR's gaze and found Penny Gilp standing across the room, looking nervous.

HR stood up. "I'll talk to you later, Al."

As HR walked out of the room Al stood up, and Penny slowly walked over to him and sat down on one of the chairs, but instead of sitting next to him like she always did Penny sat in one of the chairs across the little seating group.

"Al…we need to talk." Penny smoothed her skirt, and then looked up at him. "I know we've been, well, whatever we've been for a while now, but, um…"

"You've met someone." Al sighed.

"No, not really. I've known him for a long time, that's what makes this hard. Al, we didn't try to go behind your back, but it's hard and…"

"Come on, Penny. I'm not angry. To be honest Lils read me the riot act about you on Christmas morning, said I wasn't being fair to you, and she's right. Wait, you've known him a long time? Not my brother…"

"No,no, it isn't James. I don't want things to change all the way, Al. You're still one of my best friends. I don't want to lose that." Penny smoothed her skirt again. "Al, I'm seeing Will."

"Jensen? Really. Wow." Al sat back and smiled slightly. "That would explain earlier. He went kind of weird after you walked by."

"We've been worried about how you would take it. We didn't plan for it to happen, honestly. It just did."

"Maybe its better that we're just friends, Pen. It will be weird seeing you with Will, but I'll get over that. I've been pretty rotten to you; Lils said that I took you for granted, and maybe I have. I'm sorry about that."

Penny looked over to Al and laughed. "I'm here telling you that I'm dating your roommate and you're apologizing to me? Al, you are something else, you know. So did you have a good Christmas?"

From there on out it was as if Al and Penny's earlier conversation had almost never taken place, as the two of them discussed their holiday, Al's upcoming workshop in Ireland and the Boxing Day tea when Will and Hadley had visited Penny. As Penny was describing how Will had been nervous around her parents Al found himself almost detached from the situation, thinking about how badly it all could have turned out. When Penny told him about her mother's embarrassment that the Gilp's had a competitor's Floo powder instead of Jensen's, Al realized that he had gone about things all wrong. As he watched Penny's face light up when talking about Will, Al promised himself that he would always be completely honest when he dated the girls at Hogwarts. No more being "that guy" anymore. He'd spent too much time observing other people and forgot to pay attention to his own actions. Never again.


	3. Perfect Casting

Perfect Casting (2025)

Al Potter slung his giant green rucksack off of his back and onto the landing. He hoped it didn't make too much of a sound, as it was fairly early, but none of the doors or windows around his brother's flat showed any signs of activity. Luckily he didn't have to knock, as James had given him a spare key a couple of years ago. In the two years after he'd left Hogwarts it had worked out well, since James was often off with Puddlemere United and Al's schedule was never regular, so most of the time when he was in London Al just stayed with James. After finally finding the key in one of his pockets he finally got the deadbolt to release, grabbed the strap of the rucksack and drug it inside the door.

From the debris on the kitchen table Al could tell that James was in the flat; an empty milk carton lay on its side, next to a dirty bowl and spoon. After closing the door Al walked quietly towards the spare bedroom, looking around for the signs. He'd accidentally walked into the bathroom on one visit only to be met by a pretty young thing wearing a towel, so on subsequent visits Al looked to see if there were wineglasses, women's shoes or a purse lying around before knocking on his brother's door. As the only thing Al could see besides the mess in the kitchen was a Puddlemere United training kit and a few empty bottles of butterbeer in the living room, it was fairly safe to assume that James was alone.

Al left the lights off in the flat as he started the kettle, and a quick look inside the refrigerator reminded him how differently his life and James' life was; his little place during the last movie shoot was small, cramped and he never seemed to have enough food. James, on the other hand, was a professional Quidditch player and his refrigerator in the very comfortable flat was stocked with large quantities of ultra-healthy food. Al moved some high-protein shake thing out of the way and found the eggs. At least he could have a bit of breakfast before James woke up and devoured everything in sight. 

Al was almost finished with his breakfast when James walked into the kitchen with his hair sticking up at all angles, wearing his boxer shorts and in desperate need of a shave. After fixing a cup of tea James sat down at the table with Al.

"When'd you get in?"

"About an hour ago. Should I get another cup for tea for your guest?" Al smirked at his older brother.

James shook his head. "No. Got chucked last night, so it's just us."

"Sorry." Al took a sip of tea. "What'd you do this time?"

"My job." James sighed deeply, and then opened and closed his eyes several times. "Sorry, late night. She didn't like that I was gone all the time. Should've known better, I play Quidditch. What am I supposed to do, tell them I can't play in the next match because I'm late for a cup and a cuddle? It'd been coming for some time now."

"Hasn't hurt your play, any. Saw the highlights before I left. Still don't think you can take the Harpies this year, but the side's looking pretty good." Al leaned back in his chair. "Please tell me the spare bed's clean. I could use a few hours of sleep in a decent bed."

"What was this one? Another movie about a giant sized hippogriff that eats half of Wales?" James laughed. "You were good in it, but you have to admit, that was a horrible film."

"I wish it was about a giant hippogriff. This one's a love story, witch falls in love with a Muggle, can't decide whether to tell him or not, blah blah blah. I'm the bad wizard. The script was crap, but hey, it was a job. One day I'll get to do some really good stuff. Oh, did get one good thing out of it, though. Check this out." Al rolled up the sleeve on his right arm, exposing a tattoo of a Rhodesian Ridgeback dragon that spiraled around his forearm. The dragon's head looked as if it was ready to spit fire. "It was part of the role, and I liked it so much I made it permanent. They wanted to do a Chinese Fireball, but I had them do the Rhodesian."

"Just like Uncle Charlie's. It is cool, little brother, but Mum's going to go mental when she sees it." James pointed to his head. "And the hair. You know she hates it when you keep it long. Was that for the role as well?"

"Yeah. Bad guys are fun to play; they get all the good lines. Maybe I'll make villains my specialty."

"Whatever. So what do you want to do this morning? We don't have to be at The Burrow until later." James scratched his shoulder absentmindedly. "Sorry, forgot I've got an appointment this morning, but that shouldn't take long. Want to have lunch at The Leaky?"

Al shrugged. "Sure. I think I'm going to go crash for a few hours. You need to take a shower, you look like shite." 

Al walked into The Leaky Cauldron, took off his sunglasses and propped them on his head, using them to hold back his hair behind his ears. None of his laundry was clean so he'd grabbed one of James' training jerseys, making sure to take a long-sleeved one to cover things up. The fact that he had to hide his newest tattoo was irritating, as it was unseasonably hot and he really wanted to push up his sleeves, but that would have just led to another problem as his left arm was covered with tattoos from the top of his shoulder down to almost his wrist. He'd gotten the first tattoo on something of a dare from one of his acting workshop friends that first year in Ireland, and it had become something of an obsession. A series of vines, the Hufflepuff badger and other images and scenes cascaded across his arm, and he had almost become oblivious to the looks he received when he wore short sleeves. For the acting roles it was easy, the makeup witches were amazing, they could cover everything up in seconds. Al had forgotten to borrow a spare makeup bag for the trip home, and was wondering if he could find a shop in London that carried the same things when he felt a tap on the shoulder.

"Sorry, what now?" Al looked down to see a teenage girl in an apron looking at him strangely.

"Albus Potter, is that you?"

"Yes. Oh, hey, Alice Longbottom. I had no idea you were working here now. You mum's idea?"

"Actually mine an' Dad's. Just you today? Sorry, didn't recognize you with all that hair and the sunglasses." Alice pulled a pad out of her apron.

"No, James is joining me. Can we get somewhere out of the way?"

"Sure, follow me." Alice nodded towards the interior of The Leaky, and Al walked behind her through the lunch crowd, which didn't seem to pay Al any attention, just the way he liked it.

Alice had just left to bring Al a glass of butterbeer when James showed up at the booth and slid in on the other side.

"Order yet?" James pulled a menu towards him from across the table, and then sat it down with a small snort. "Dunno why I'm looking, I always get the same thing."

"No, just got here a few minutes ago. James, you'll never guess who waited on me…Alice Longbottom. I think she's a fifth year now or summing."

"Really? Damn, little brother, we're getting old." James leaned back into the booth. "I can't remember the last time I saw her, probably…um, right before I joined Puddlemere."

Before Al could respond Alice arrived with his butterbeer, took James' drink order as well as their lunch order and was off in a flash. The Potter brothers watched her walk away, and then looked at each other and shook their heads. 

As lunch was nearing completion, James sat back and looked at Al. "Ok, I've been good, but Lily's been pestering me ever since she found out you were coming home for what she's calling the "No More Potters at Hogwarts" party, and I know she'll be a right bother tonight if I don't ask. Is it true what that movie magazine said a few months ago, that you're dating Veela twins?"

"Merlin! No, I'm not dating Veela twins." Al rolled his eyes. "Those magazines print anything. Why do you…"

"Lily, Al, Lily, not me. She just knew I'd see you before she will later tonight and it's all HR and I can do to keep her from owling you. Before the Veelas it was that run of pictures of you and different actresses."

"Fine." Al pushed up his sleeves and watched James' expression as his brother realized that the dragon tattoo was not the first one. "Yes, I know. Don't tell Mum or Granny Weasley. I'm bloody hot."

"That's what the Boyd twins think." James began laughing, especially when he saw how it irritated his brother. "All right, all right. I know, they're your godparents' youngest, be nice. Fine. So you're not shagging Veelas then, or all those fit young actresses. What about the Healer? The one you told me about in your letter? Is that why you keep shooting Irish movies?"

Al took off his sunglasses, put them on the table and ran his hands through his hair. He and Erin had talked about telling everyone, but they'd both decided to keep things quiet for a while. But this was James, and if he couldn't tell James, who could he tell? HR was the obvious person, as he would listen and keep things quiet as always, but maybe it was time. "That's it, you're right. I'm serious, you're spot on. Erin and I have been seeing each other as much as we can with our schedules."

"I hope she likes tattoos." James laughed. "So how long…"

"She does. Since that first summer in Ireland, the acting workshop. Remember me telling you how I got hit by a piece of the set and it broke my collarbone?"

"So you're shagging your Healer? What kind of movies are you making, again?"

"Funny, James, really funny. Yes, she was a Healer trainee then, she's a fully qualified Healer now." Al reached into his pocket, pulled out his wallet and took out a picture. "Here, that's her."

James took a look at the picture let out a small whistle. "She looks way too classy to be seeing an actor whose last screen time was getting snapped in two by a hippogriff. Maybe she'd prefer a Quidditch player?"

"Laugh a minute, you are." Al took the picture back from James and put it in his pocket. "She's older than you, actually, by two years. She'd never put up with your crap. Just like your last one."

"Thanks, it's been so long since the wound has healed and all that." James took a drink of butterbeer. "So when you telling Mum? Or introducing her? Wait, this isn't Penny Gilp all over again, is it?"

Initially Al had been fine with his brother's teasing, but James was coming dangerously close to making Al truly angry. "No. I haven't seen anyone but Erin in two years. I dunno, might be soon. I'm up for a role in a movie that's shooting here in London. If I get it she might come over with me."

"For Merlin's sake let me meet her first. If you take her over to Grimmauld or The Burrow she'll probably go running for the hills. Hate to think what would happen if she turned up with you at Colony House and the twins met her…" James rubbed the stubble on his chin. "All right, seriously now, good on you. Just let me know if you need tickets or anything, I can't do much besides that. Well, I can help with portkeys. Merlin knows we use enough of those." James looked at his watch. "Ok, get ready, because we need to go help setup at The Burrow. You'd better hope they only notice your hair."

* * *

Later that night as the party wound down Al sat with Rose and James at a table in the yard of The Burrow, each of them uncommonly silent. The evening had not been as lighthearted as it was meant to be, especially with Hermione's abrupt departure from the table as everyone was eating. The one topic that had been on everyone's minds and part of the conversation had been the gathering forces of the anti-Muggle group the WLF. Al had hoped to ignore it as he had been able to do while on set, but here it was impossible. His cousin Hugo Weasley, as well as Scorpius Malfoy, had enlisted in the new wizarding army that had been formed, and the two had arrived at The Burrow in uniform. Hermione was still upset that Hugo had enlisted without her knowledge, but as he was of age there was nothing she could do about it. Al was still thinking about how even in his little bubble of movie people the war was becoming more and more of a topic. The movie role that he'd mentioned to James was a war movie, of sorts, as it was about the battles against Voldemort and the Death Eaters, but he wasn't sure that he wanted to take it. Too close to his family to be comfortable.

"Have you seen Lily?" The Potter boys and their cousin looked over to see their Granny Weasley wiping her hands on her apron. "I need her help in the kitchen for a few minutes."

James looked at a table towards the far end of the tables set up in the back of The Burrow. "She was with HR a while ago, haven't seen her since."

"Well, I'll just go check the clock, then." Molly Weasley shook her head slightly and walked back towards the house, leaving the brothers and their cousin alone once again.

"Al, you've been quieter than usual, and that's saying something." Rose looked over to Al. "Come on, you can tell me."

"Let me guess, you've had visions of Al riding a dragon and shagging actresses?" James elbowed his brother. "Come on, Al, confess. It's the one with the big…"

"No, nothing of the sort." Rose cocked her head towards Al. "I've had flashes of you and a woman with red hair. What is it with you Potter boys and redheads?" Rose's tone wasn't as lighthearted as it had been meant, and she turned to face Al. "I'm not sure I should say…"

Al sighed. "Ok, Rosie. I'll tell you, but you have to keep it quiet. I told James earlier today and he obviously can't keep his mouth shut." Al reached into his pocket, pulled out the picture of Erin and handed it to Rose. "Her name is Erin Doyle; she's a Healer I met in Ireland a couple of years ago. We've been seeing each other when we can, but we've been talking about her coming over to London with me if I get a role in a new movie."

After taking the picture from him Al watched as Rose's face changed from a smile to a worried look. She quickly readjusted her expression to its previous state and handed the picture back to him.

"What is it, Rosie? Come on, tell me." Al took the picture without looking at it, instead keeping his attention squarely focused on his cousin. "Is it bad?"

"I'm sorry, Al. I just got an overwhelming feeling of sadness, that's it." Rose stood up. "Must be because she's a Healer. I'm sure she's had to tell people awful news. That must be it. She's quite lovely. I'm happy for you. Well, I should be going now. Stop by before you leave again, Al. Bye James."

The brothers watched their cousin walk away, and Al was silent for a long time. James finally broke the silence.

"She's not always right, you know. What's she always say, she sees possible futures, and it doesn't always work out that way or something. Merlin, she said Uncle Ron is going to be Minister of Magic. That's a good one."

Al looked at the picture of Erin, and watched her sit down on the rock by the shore as the wind whipped her long red hair about her face, and she took a hand to clear her face and smile directly at the camera. The one woman in the world who didn't care if he was Albus Severus Potter, who didn't care if he had tattoos all over his arms, who didn't care if he never made it big as an actor, the woman who shared his love of Muggle books and music and enjoyed nothing more than lying in bed with him, reading. The woman he loved. It was at that moment Al realized that Erin Doyle was the woman he wanted to marry.

"Al? Earth to Al, you there?" James poked him in the shoulder with a finger. "Come on, let's go get a drink and call it a night. It's been quite a day." 

If James had thought that the previous day was a big one he was mistaken, as the following day beat it by a mile. Al had slept in late, as he and James had stopped off at The Hog's Head for a few drinks, ran into Brian Hadley and spent the rest of the evening catching up with Al's old Hogwarts roommate. Hadley was doing well, his Auror training was going along nicely, and he let Al know what was going on with the rest of his roommates. Jeff was working in the Ministry as a clerk in the Muggle departments, Will was working in the family business and was still seeing Penny Gilp, although they had broken up and got back together a few times. Al gave him the lowdown on his career and quashed the Veela rumor. By the time the brothers made it back to James' flat they were more than a little wobbly and had fallen into their respective beds without saying much to each other.

Al woke up to see James standing above him, still wearing the previous evening's clothing. "Bloody hell, Al, wake up. Come on, you aren't going to believe this one."

Al sat up and rubbed his eyes. He realized that he was going to need a hangover potion very soon. "You slept in your clothes as well? What is it? Hogwarts better be on fire for you to wake me up this early."

"It's half nine, but that's not important. Look at this."

Al took the piece of paper that James handed to him, and after getting his eyes to focus finally he scanned the note. After reading it a second time it finally sunk in. "Bloody hell, James! Mum's going to go mental! Lily and HR ran off to get married?"

"Yeah. Look, there's a hangover potion on the table, I'm going over to Grimmauld. This is going to be good. Little Miss Perfect Lily finally does something. Makes all our scrapes look like kid stuff, it does."

After the newly married couple had been found and brought back to The Burrow, Al sat as his sister and his new brother-in-law were interrogated by their families. But while Al was happy that his sister and HR were really and truly together, he kept thinking back to Rose's reaction when he'd shown her the picture of Erin the night before. It must have been all of the sadness that Erin has to deal with that Rosie picked up on, as it couldn't have been her family. Al had spent countless days in their company with Erin and they seemed like an ordinary wizarding family. After the polite questions about his parents the Doyles never bothered him about his famous father; instead they asked him about his acting and took it as a very good sign when Chub and Steve, their Welsh Corgis, decided that Al was one of their favorite people.

While watching how everyone reacted to Lily's sudden marriage Al decided that James was right; if he was going to introduce Erin to his family it would be best to do it in small doses, starting with his brother. To expose Erin to the whole lot at once would be horrible, and he could only imagine her reaction. This caused Al to chuckle to himself quietly, as Erin would probably be able to handle it, just as she seemed to handle everything else in stride.

Granny Weasley, now that would be the best place to start. Al watched her as she half-smiled at Lily; Granny would understand. When Erin came over to London when he got a role he'd bring her to The Burrow when it was just Granny and Grandpa Arthur at home. After James. Then Al caught himself and realized he was putting things in the wrong order; first he'd have to actually get a role. 

It was the fifth day of his extended visit with James and the initial fun of staying with his older brother had worn off. James was now in a full training schedule and wasn't at the flat very often so Al found himself watching WeasleyVision movies on the television, studying the actors and wondering if he'd ever get his chance. More than that, though, he found himself looking for an owl, any owl, hopefully the one that might tell him the news about a movie role. There were a lot of characters in the movie, and Al was just hoping to be one of the background characters, as the movie was a big one. As long as it was a job he'd be happy portraying the third wizard from the left in a crowd scene. He'd written Erin once, mostly telling her about Lily and HR's sudden marriage, but her response hadn't arrived yet. Al chalked that up to her being very busy at the hospital, as in her last letter she'd informed him that she had transferred and was now a Maternity Healer.

As Al stood in the kitchen, fixing his fifth cup of tea that morning he saw the owl in the distance, low over the rooftops. He'd already resigned himself to the fact that it was probably for someone else when the owl changed directions and made for the window. Half of the tea spilled out of the cup as Al opened the window as fast as he could, and the owl landed on the faucet of the sink. After searching for something to give the owl Al frantically pulled out a piece of sausage from the bin that was a little too burnt for his tastes and gave it to the owl, removing the note as quickly as he could. Once the owl flew away he placed the note on the kitchen table and sat down. Not bothering to look to see who the letter was addressed to or the writing on it he tore open the envelope.

_Al,  
Congratulations! I know you'll be great! Perfect casting since you grew up in Grimmauld!  
Love,_

_Rosie_

Rosie? What did she mean? Perfect casting? Al sat the letter back down on the table, and then got up to clean his spilled tea. It was while cleaning that the other owl arrived. Annoyed about the first note Al didn't bother to try and find a treat for the owl and barely escaped a nip on the hand; instead he looked at the writing on the front of the envelope and recognized his agent's handwriting. Again he tore open the note as rapidly as possible without destroying the contents.

_Albus,_

_I'm very happy to inform you that you have been cast as Sirius Black in "Prelude to War." Shooting will begin on the fifth of September here in London. I've arranged for a small flat for you, but please let me know if you'd like to stay there or with some of your family or friends as we talked about previously. I will show you the flat as soon as you are available. The script will arrive next week, as they're currently undergoing a third revision. The salary and terms are as we hoped, so no more living like a student on those horrible killer hippogriff films._

_Since the timeframe for this film is before Azkaban, you don't have to lose any weight. Please continue growing your hair and keeping up with your fitness regimen. I'll contact you shortly about having a new headshot photograph taken and the press conference schedule._

_This is the one we've been waiting for! Congratulations! Please send me an owl confirming that you've received this message. _

_Florence Coswock  
Principal Theatrical Agent  
Coswock and Coswock Agency  
_

Al looked around the room, wishing there was someone to tell. Finally he walked over to the big window in the living room, threw it open and stuck out his head.

"I got it! I finally got it!"

From two floors below someone responded that he should shut it as it was still quite early. Laughing, Al headed to the shower. He was going to answer Florence's letter in person, and then he had to contact Erin. Everything was finally coming together, in more ways than one.

* * *

Al walked nervously around his flat. He went back to the loo, checking his hair for the fifth time when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Your hair is fine, Al. It's for the role, everyone will understand."

Al turned to Erin and smiled. "You don't know my Gran. I'm sure she's going to mention it right off."

"I think it looks wonderful. Dashing, even."

Al smiled shyly. "That's what counts." He took a deep breath. "Are you ready for this?"

"It went so well with your brother. Why? Should I be worried?" She sat on the edge of the bathtub and made another attempt to tame her unruly long red hair. "Is it because I'm older than you, is that why you're worried? We've been through that a million times."

"No, it's just…It's just that after Lily and HR's big to-do I'm worried that…"

Erin stood up and put her arms around Al's waist. "Quiet, you. It will be fine. It's just a Sunday visit with your Grandparents. You should have owled first, letting them know we're coming, but that's just my opinion." She grinned at him. "You are pressing things with that shirt, though."

Al smiled. He'd picked out the short-sleeved polo shirt specifically to show off his tattoos. If the hair didn't stop Granny Weasley from asking too many questions of Erin, the tattoos definitely would. 

When Al and Erin arrived at The Burrow Al's mood changed drastically. "Maybe we should go back, I'm not sure if…"

"Are you embarrassed to be seen with me?" Erin smiled at Al and looked at him through large sunglasses. "I'm just a little Irish girl, not like those Veela twins or…"

"Stop it. Fine." Al took a very deep breath and slid his hand into Erin's. "Come on, let's see what happens. This will be easier than Mum and Dad, I can tell you that."

Al was partially right, as his Aunt Hermione met him when he opened the door. After walking in with Erin, Al noticed that his family was not focusing on his exposed tattoos, they were focusing on Erin…and it wasn't just his Gran plus his aunt at The Burrow; instead it was almost the entire female side of his family, sitting down to tea. Immediately he scanned the room and saw his mother looking at him as if he had just walked in with a second head.

"Um, everybody, I'd like you to meet Erin. Erin, this is…" Al exhaled loudly. "Merlin's pants. What's going on?"

Victoire Lupin stood up and walked over to Al and Erin. "Very nice to meet you, Erin. I'm Victoire, Al's cousin." Vic looked up to Al and smiled. "You're not the only one with some news. Teddy and I are expecting."

"Congratulations. I apologize for being forward, when's your due date?" Erin smiled at Victoire, and it seemed that Erin's voice brought Al out of his state of shock.

"Erin's a Maternity Healer."

Before anyone could start in on the questioning Molly Weasley walked forward, welcomed Erin to The Burrow, immediately began clearing additional space at the table and had her set up with a cup of tea. Al was more nervous than he'd ever been in his life, even more than when he was sorted into Hufflepuff, but luckily for him Erin was handling being thrown into the Dragon's Den gracefully. Al hadn't said more than a handful of words as the women began introducing themselves to Erin and chatting politely about pregnancies and the job of a Healer, specifically Al's Aunt Audrey who performed the same job at St. Mungo's. Al watched his mum look at Erin, then at his tattooed arms.

"Went a wee bit overboard with the art, didn't you?" Melody Boyd whispered in Al's ear, and he turned to see her smiling at him.

"Maybe. Erin likes them." Al smiled at his godmother, but quickly returned his face to the polite mask he'd worn since entering The Burrow. It was nerve-wracking, as the conversation around the table was unlike the usual no-holds-barred, no topic off-limits manner of his family. Everyone was being overly polite, not asking the obvious questions. Finally Al couldn't take it any longer and stood up.

"Ok, I'm just going to come out with it. I thought it would just be Gran and Grandpa Arthur here, so I'm a little off, but I'm going ahead anyway. I've been seeing Erin for three years now, when we can, and she's moving with me to London next week. I have a flat of my own now because I just got a new role in a big movie. Yes, Mum, the tattoos are real, my hair is for the role as I'm playing Sirius Black and I haven't told any of you lot about Erin because I knew it would be an interrogation worthy of Auror Dad. We met in Ireland when I broke my collarbone." After saying that Al looked at his mum, who was not pleased about hearing this news for the first time. He shrugged it off. "I wasn't sure about this, especially after Lils and HR, but…"

"Albus Severus!" Ginny looked at Al sharply, and Al felt as he did when he was a kid and got in trouble fighting with James. "Did you…"

Al felt a hand on his arm and looked down to see Erin shaking her head slightly. "Al, sit down, please." After Al acquiesced to her request, Erin looked over to Ginny. "Mrs. Potter, please don't worry. I wouldn't do anything to…"

"More tea, dear?" Molly levitated the kettle over to Erin with her wand. "Can't have your tea going cold." 

Al watched Erin sit on the end of the bed, brushing her hair. She was wearing one of his old t-shirts, and her brushstrokes were long and even.

"I know you're watching, Al. Why is this so fascinating for you?" Erin stopped and looked over her shoulder to Al, who was sitting on the bed, under the covers and propped up on several pillows. "You've seen me do it a million times."

"Probably not a million. I'm just amazed how you handled all of those women, especially Mum. I told you my family can be a lot to take in."

Erin resumed brushing her hair. "They were very nice. I think they were not very pleased with you, though. Not telling them about me for all those years. Were you ashamed?"

"No. Definitely not. Just wanted to protect you, from all the questions. Not to mention the stupid movie magazines. You know you'll be in those now."

"I think your Mum was just happy we're not married." Erin stopped for a moment and looked at Al. "That's not correct. She's happy you didn't run off like your sister."

"True." Al sat there and watched Erin finish brushing her hair, and then felt the warmth of her skin as she slid into bed next to him. There was never going to be the perfect time, and he hadn't planned on it, but he couldn't stop himself. "I don't want to run off. I want to marry you properly, with our families there."

"What are you saying, Al?"

"You know what I'm saying. What do you think?"

"Yes, of course. Of course I will. Now go to sleep, you have a big day tomorrow on set."


	4. Are You Sure?

Are You Sure? (2028)

Al Potter sat in the recreated version of the Shrieking Shack, sipping on a cup of tea, dressed as a recently escaped from Azkaban Sirius Black. The young actress playing his Aunt Hermione was having a small breakdown, as she had been overwhelmed by the amount of lines she'd had to learn from the updated script pages that were delivered that morning. By now Al was used to having to absorb line changes quickly, as he'd been dealing with that specific job challenge for a few years. One of the assistant producers, a young guy named Austin who Al got on well with, caught Al's eye as he waved at him. Al motioned him over, and soon the two of them sat together.

"Think she'll be at it long?" Al looked over to the producer. "I'd like to actually go home at a decent hour for once."

"Possibly. There's more to it than just the new lines. Heard from one of the crew that her brother's gone missing."

Al nodded. There had been more and more of that as the war had dragged on, especially the last few months. "Where was he stationed?"

Austin shrugged. "Finland, I think. Maybe Iceland. You have some family over there, don't you?"

"Yeah. My cousin's around the front lines, last I heard. Luckily my wife's in Norway."

"Right. Forgot she was over there. Sorry. Heard from her lately?"

"Couple of weeks ago. They don't let them write very often." Al took another sip of his tea. "She's been busy, unfortunately. They need all the Healers they can get."

"Hopefully it'll all be over soon and everyone can come home. I'd really like to make something besides these historical rah-rah war pictures. Bet you're tired of Sirius Black."

"Sort of. You know he was my Dad's godfather."

"That's right." Austin raised an eyebrow at Al. "And didn't you grow up in…"

"Yes. It's actually my place now. Mum and Dad built a place over in Godric's Hollow."

"So when we're on the Grimmauld set you're at home. Potter, you've got a very odd life, has anyone ever told you that?"

Al saw someone waving at the two of them, and then all of the lights on the set suddenly came on as a bell began to ring.

Austin stood up. "Looks like that's it for today. See you tomorrow, Potter." 

Grimmauld Place was quiet and dark when Al arrived at home. He walked through the house and did his usual routine, turning on only a minimum of lights, starting a fire in the fireplace with his wand and turning on some music, usually the Muggle music that he had grown to prefer. As a song came on that he hadn't heard in a long time Al thought of his godfather, all of those afternoons at Colony House in the office, listening to Muggle music and another of the extended lectures that his godfather loved to give about music. He pulled his hair back and tied it quickly, then began pulling items out of the refrigerator for his quick evening meal.

A loud knock at the front door pulled his attention sharply away from the sausages. Since his parents had moved to Godric's Hollow very few people stopped to see him, and those that did usually used the Floo. Al picked up his wand off of the counter and kept to the wall of the hallway as he made his way to the door.

"Who is it?"

The voice on the other side of the door was slightly muffled. "Hugo. Al, its Hugo."

"Bollocks. Hugo's been deployed. I'm not giving you an interview. If you're really Hugo Weasley what did you say at my bachelor party?"

"I asked if you could introduce me to Bernice Higgenbotham and if her breasts were real."

Al opened the door, shocked to see his cousin. Hugo's uniform was rumpled, his cloak was filthy and he looked as if he hadn't had a decent meal in months. "What the bloody hell…get in, get in!"

Hugo entered the house, and as soon as Al had closed the door he embraced his cousin. "Thank Merlin! Can't believe you're actually here! Good to see you, Hugo, what are you doing?"

Al hadn't noticed that Hugo hadn't really embraced him; instead he stood there as if he was paralyzed. Hugo took a deep breath.

"Al, can we sit down?"

"Sure, sure. Come on, tell me what's going on. How did you get back? Have you seen your parents yet?" Al half-threw himself into a large chair by the fireplace. "Merlin's pants, Hugo, you have no idea how good it is to see you."

Hugo Weasley looked down at his mud-splattered boots. He doubted if Al would ever be happy to see him again. "Al, when they told me I asked if they'd let me do it in person. I've got the letter here. Al…I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." Hugo handed Al the letter, but Al kept looking at Hugo. "I'm sorry, Al. Everyone thought Norway was safe."

Al's voice was very, very quiet. "What…Hugo. No."

Hugo nodded. "Happened instantly. Entire hospital, all at once. I'm so sorry, Al."

Al sat back against the chair and looked down. With slightly shaking hands he opened the letter. Al shook his head, it couldn't be happening. It wasn't real. It was simply a new scene in the movie. He looked up at Hugo with a very faint hope in his eyes. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I'm sure."

The two cousins sat in silence for what seemed an unbearable amount of time to Hugo. Finally, not knowing what else to do, Hugo stood up and took off his cloak. "Al, I'm going to go into the kitchen and fix you something to eat. Is that ok?" As Al made no movement whatsoever, Hugo continued on into the kitchen. He opened the window to the cold night air and took out his wand. On the seventeenth try to come up with a happy thought he finally was able to conjure a Patronus to contact Lily and HR.

* * *

Gin Boyd sat in the living room of Grimmauld Place with her brother and sister-in-law, holding her nephew Arthur. The family had determined that Al needed at least one member of his family with him, as nobody wanted to see him rattling around Grimmauld by himself, and Gin had volunteered when Lily suggested that they spend the day over at Grimmauld. It had been a week since Erin's funeral in Ireland, and Al had returned to Grimmauld Place as a shell of his former self. _The Daily Prophet_ had splashed the news all over their front page, and some of the movie magazines were doing some very distasteful articles, asking if the hospital was a target due to the fact that The Boy Who Lived's daughter-in-law was working there. One magazine even began running a series on who Al should start dating next or which starlet was the most likely to comfort Al in his grief. Gin watched as Arthur pulled a magazine off of the end table and began pulling it apart.

"Gin, don't let him do that." HR looked over at his sister and shook his head.

"It's _Celebrity Wizard Weekly_."

"Oh. In that case just don't let him eat it." HR took off his glasses and sat back in the chair. "Lils, has he even been downstairs today?"

"No." Lily looked at her watch. "HR, you should really get back to the shop."

"If anybody needs a wand that badly they can owl me." HR noticed his wife's scowl. "If you're here, I'm here. He's my brother too, you know."

As the moistened pieces of _Celebrity Wizard Weekly _fell to the ground, Gin looked at Lily and HR. "Why don't you two knock off, I'll watch Artie. Besides, the twins and Rosie are supposed to be here soon. I'll bring him home in a few hours."

The sound of the Floo from the other room prevented Lily from responding, and after knowing that Gin would not be on her own with Arthur, Lily consented. Gin could hear Al's status, or lack thereof communicated to the newcomers near the Floo fireplace, and soon HR and Lily left.

"Where's Mione?" Gin looked at her little sister, who just shrugged.

"Said she had to finish a letter. Honestly, I don't know what's got into her lately. She won't even tell me who she's writing and Rosie is no help whatsoever." Minnie rolled her eyes in Rose's direction. "Some gift."

"Hey, it's not all that it's cracked up to be, that's for sure." Rose stopped in front of Gin and held out her hands towards Arthur, who lifted up his chubby little hands that were full of wet paper towards her. "Is he supposed to have that?"

"It's _Celebrity Wizard Weekly._" Gin lifted Arthur towards Rose. "HR didn't care as long as he doesn't eat it." Gin noticed that it wasn't just Rosie and Minnie at Grimmauld. "Paige! When did you get here?"

Paige Boyd smiled at her cousin. "This morning. Mom and Dad have been at Colony House and you didn't answer your phone."

"I knew I forgot something this morning. Sorry, must have left it at home. I'm sure Mum is thrilled it keeps going off." 

Al heard the voices downstairs and debated on whether or not to actually go to the kitchen. He knew he'd be smothered in quiet tones and everyone would have "that look," the one that he'd grown accustomed to seeing every time he had to talk to anyone, the look that said that there was nothing they could do and that they were available to talk. Instead of going back upstairs, though, Al stood on the landing and took a deep breath. Sod it, he was hungry. He wrapped the bathrobe around him, tied the cord and made no effort to hide his footsteps.

"Hello, Al, care for a cup of tea? Bite to eat?" Rosie stood holding Arthur on her hip while the baby tried to pull her engagement ring off with his chubby fingers. "Granny sent over some stew."

"Sure." Al nodded his head and started walking towards the kitchen. "Who's here?"

"Gin, Minnie and Paige. You remember Paige, don't you?"

"Sorry, no. Hogwarts friend?" Al walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table. "Was she in Slytherin with Gin?"

"No, she's the Boyd's cousin. Lives in the UMS. She's a Muggle. I'm sure you've met her before."

"That's nice. What's she doing here? Come to stare at poor Potter like the rest of the world? Want to see if the actor is going off the deep end?"

Rosie switched arms and put Arthur on her other hip. "No, Al. Stop it, she's not like that. She's visiting with her parents. Trust me, she's ok."

"Another one of your wonderful visions? How come you didn't see…"

"Albus, I'm not having this conversation with you again. It doesn't work that way. You know I can't control…"

Al ran his hand over the beard that had begun ever since Hugo's fateful visit. "Fine. I know, I know. Sorry."

Rosie moved towards the pot of stew that sat on the stove, and after taking out her wand she moved it a little too forcefully, causing the pot to tilt and fall onto the floor. "Bloody hell! Al take him while I clean this up!" She thrust Arthur into Al's hands and surveyed the mess. "I'll have to do the whole floor. Merlin's pants!"

Al looked at the bright blue eyes of his nephew. "Come on, little man. I think we should leave the kitchen." 

Al sat on his bed while Arthur sat in front of him and played with Erin's brush. As Al watched his nephew take his fingers and move the soft bristles of the brush with his stubby little fingers; Al tried to straighten the slight, unruly mop of red curls on Arthur's head.

"Looks like you've got the Weasley hair, that's for sure. Your Aunt Erin was a redhead, too. I know you don't remember her, but she was there when you were born. Took care of your Dad when he passed out. Don't mention it to him, he gets all defensive about it." Al watched Arthur try to chew on the brush handle, so he took the brush out of Arthur's hands and gave him a biscuit that was on the tray next to the bed. It was from yesterday's tea, but he didn't think it would hurt the boy. "I wish you could have known your Aunt Erin. I've never known anyone like her. She was smart, a lot smarter than I am, and I still wonder why she married me sometimes. Artie, she was beautiful but she never thought so, she thought she was just an ordinary witch. Far from it. I was ready to run away the first time I took her to The Burrow, but at the end of the night she had them eating out of her hand."

Arthur dropped the soggy biscuit on the bed and began trying to pick the dragon off of Al's arm.

"Yeah, she even liked the tattoos. Your Grandmum Potter sure didn't, but Erin somehow got her to get over it. Look, here's a little Celtic knot I got after…well, afterwards. Maybe I'll tell you about that when you get older." Al put Arthur's little fingers on the green Celtic knot that seemed to endlessly go over and over, never stopping, never starting. "She told me I was being sappy, but I know she liked it. We used to have complete conversations without saying more than a few words; we just knew what each other were thinking. We used to read at night, and she was always the last one to turn off the light. Sometimes I'd wake up the next morning and she'd still be reading. Took me forever to get her to stop that."

Arthur began moving, trying to crawl off the bed, so Al picked him up, got off of the bed and walked over to the farthest wall. "See, here she is, the day we got married in Ireland. Watch right here." Al pointed to a spot near the bottom of the picture, and Arthur made excited noises as two Welsh Corgis ran across the bottom of the picture. "The little one's Steve, and the big one is Chub. Kinda like you." Al tickled Arthur, who began laughing, causing Al to chuckle. "Merlin, she loved those dogs. We'd talked about getting one, but with her at St. Mungo's and my schedule, and then the war…"

Al walked over to the window, and instead of the pouring rain that would help soothe him the sky shone bright and clear. He watched a couple push a pram outside on the street, hurrying along as the wind whipped the woman's hair about. "We said that when it was all over we'd do that. Be that annoyingly boring couple that only talks about their kids." Arthur reached up and took a large handful of Al's long hair into his hand, causing Al to wince slightly. After extricating his hand, Al held his nephew out at arm's length. "What am I going to do, Artie? A widower at twenty-two. Damn it."

"Dam. Dam. Dam."

"Oh no, your mum will kill me. Stop saying that." Al pulled his nephew close and laughed, and when he heard another laugh he turned around quickly. A woman about his age stood in the doorway, and suddenly Al felt everything crash in on him again. His tone changed drastically as he asked the woman "How long have you been there?"

"Too long. I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself. I don't know if you remember me, Albus, but…"

Suddenly Al did remember, years ago at Colony House. "Right. Paige." Albus finally put two and two together. "I think you were over at Christmas when…"

"You told your parents you wanted to be an actor. My cousins tell me you're really good at it. I'm so sorry, and I didn't mean to listen. Um, Rosie sent me up here to tell you she's made you something to eat. Want me to take the baby?"

"No. He's fine." Al watched as Paige nodded and began to head downstairs. Before she got a few steps away he called to her. "Um, don't say anything about him saying bad words, will you?"

"Don't worry; you can always blame it on Uncle Hank."

Al laughed slightly. "Very true, very true."

* * *

Al sat in the library at Grimmauld. The last few weeks had been better, as he'd finally convinced his family that he didn't need a nanny, and everyone had agreed except for his Gran, who still brought him food every third day or so. Since it was Granny Weasley he couldn't really tell her no, and as always the food was delicious so he hadn't said anything. To be quite honest he found himself looking forward to her visits, as she didn't pry or ask questions; instead she kept him up to date on the rest of his family. Rose's wedding plans were coming along nicely even if his Uncle Ron was grumbling, but everyone knew that it was just an act. As Rosie was his only daughter Uncle Ron spoiled her just as much now that she was out of Hogwarts as he ever had. James was doing well with Puddlemere, and was hoping to be chosen for the All England team for the upcoming Quidditch World Cup although he was grumbling about how much publicity and personal appearances he had to make for the war effort. Artie was talking more and more and Molly was positive that Professor Muggle's bad language was rubbing off on her great-grandson as it seemed that Artie was very fond of saying curse words.

After taking a sip of tea and putting a bookmark in the pages of the book he'd pulled from the library shelves Al looked over at the clock. Usually Granny Weasley was here by this time, and Al felt his stomach rumble slightly. He wasn't looking forward to having to fix his own lunch and had decided to wait a little bit longer when he heard the Floo.

"Gran? Gran, is that you?"

Al heard heavier steps on the floor and saw his Uncle George's head pop around the corner.

"No such luck, just your favorite uncle. Merlin, you look like something that's crawled out from under a rock. Come on, get your arse upstairs, get cleaned up and throw on some clothes. We're going to a Quidditch match."

Al sighed. His family had been trying to get him out of the house for weeks, to no avail. "Thanks, but I don't think…"

"Shut it, you little fart. Come on, it's Hufflepuff versus Gryffindor. I've bet ten Galleons with your godmother and I'm not losing. And if that beard gets any longer people will think you're Hagrid's little brother."

"George, I really don't want…"

Al didn't have time to say the rest of his sentence as George had taken out his wand and levitated Al into the air by one leg. As Al hung upside-down George walked over to him and leaned down.

"At least you don't smell like you've been under a rock, that's a plus. Come on. I gave you a bath when you were little and I don't really want to have to do that again." 

Walking with his Uncle George walked down to the Quidditch pitch Al realized that he hadn't stepped foot onto the Hogwarts grounds in over three years, since HR and Lily's last year. The grounds seemed smaller to him than they had when he'd been a student; back then Hogwarts seemed to stretch out forever in all directions, but now it was as if the borders were closing in on him. He pulled the stocking cap down further on his head and leaned into the wind.

"Al, I know you're an actor and like dressing up and all that, but you look ridiculous. At least take off those sunglasses; the sun's not coming out today and…"

"Fine, George, fine."

Al put the sunglasses in the pocket of his jacket and continued on towards the pitch. He wasn't sure if this was a good idea or not, but he was committed at this point. It did feel good to be outside with the wind on his face. Al adjusted the black scarf around his neck, and he was glad that he'd put on that one instead of the Hufflepuff scarf he usually wore to Quidditch matches. As this was his first trip outside of Grimmauld he didn't want to draw attention to himself, instead he wanted nothing more than to blend into the crowd. When they had reached the entrance Al stopped, causing a few students behind him to almost run into him. Their comments didn't really register for Al, he just heard the noise, but he didn't know what to do. If he sat on the Gryffindor side he'd run into his mum, and if he sat on the Hufflepuff side he'd have to endure all of the awkward conversation from his former housemates, students and his godparents. George waved at him and motioned towards the Gryffindor side, and Al watched his uncle head over to the red and gold Gryffindor stands.

While trying to decide what to do Al smelled something delicious in the air and turned around to see Virginia Boyd walking close by with two other Slytherin girls. Virginia held a small brown paper bag in her hands, and it was then that Al made up his mind; after all, Granny Weasley hadn't stopped by as usual and George forgot to get anything to eat.

"Gin?' Al waved at her slightly.

Gin caught his eye and waved back, said something to her friends, and then headed over to Al. "Didn't expect to see you here, but I'm glad you came."

"Thanks. Um, Gin, what's in the sack?" Al nodded towards her paper bag.

"You Potter boys, always thinking with your stomachs. Come on, I'll share." 

Al followed Gin to what his godfather called the "we're not cheering for either team thank you" section, and the two of them sat towards the top of the stands, away from everyone. As soon as they had settled in Gin reached into the bag and handed Al a warm sandwich, and Al wasted no time in polishing it off.

"Thanks, Gin. Kind of missed lunch today."

"No problem whatsoever." Gin smiled weakly at him and then reached in for her own sandwich.

Al sat there and sort of watched Gin eat her sandwich, and everything seemed so unreal. People were attending a Hogwarts Quidditch match, Gin was eating a sandwich, the teams were doing their warmup laps and here he was sitting with them while everything in his life had seemed to fall away. Erin was gone, never coming back, and he was supposed to just pick up the pieces and move on with everything. It seemed as if the world was mocking him with its normality, when his life was now so unreal. Suddenly a sandwich appeared in front of his face.

"Sorry, Al, but you didn't hear me. Want the last one?" Gin

Al shook his head and stared out towards the pitch, concentrating on nothing. When he felt something warm in his hand he looked down to see the sandwich.

"I've never know you, your brother or Hugo to turn down food." Gin looked at him sympathetically. "Nobody expects you to be like you were…before. You do have to eat, though. One sandwich? Really?"

Despite his feelings Al's stomach gave him away, as it rumbled, causing both him and Gin to chuckle. "Thanks." After quickly eating the sandwich he looked over to Gin. "So what now?"

"Well you've cleaned me out. Neeker didn't expect she'd be feeding you." Gin glanced over and then watched the Quidditch teams stream by. "I might be able to…"

"That's not what I mean, Gin." Al looked at her and then quickly resumed his gaze towards the pitch.

"I know, Al." Gin put her hand on Al's arm. "To be honest I have no idea. I've never really had a steady boyfriend, let alone married, so don't know. Dad says that you just keep on living. He's worried about you, you know."

"I know. It's just so hard. Imagine the best thing in your life, and then suddenly it's gone. Think what would happen if you couldn't paint anymore, Gin. It's like that but a hundred times worse."

Gin didn't say anything, so Al continued to stare at the pitch. He flinched involuntarily when he felt Gin put her hand in his, but it felt reassuring.

"Al, you're like a brother to me, so I'm going to tell you what I would tell HR. Do you think Erin would want you to be like this? What would she think? And what would you want for her if the roles were reversed?" 

When Al woke up the next morning he was groggy; he'd spent most of the night sitting in the library looking over photo albums of him and Erin, thinking on Gin's comment. What would Erin want him to do? Obviously she would chastise him as she'd done when he'd fallen into a funk after not getting a role, as he'd done several times before. What had she said, something along the lines of "pick yourself up and get going, you're not going anywhere if you act like that."

After making his way downstairs for a cup of tea Al noticed several owls sitting outside the kitchen window. He opened the window and all of them flapped noisily onto the kitchen table, and after removing the letters and a magazine he took the bundle and threw it on the stack of mail that sat on the counter. He knew he should probably read what had come in, along with the rest of the giant pile of correspondence but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. After the kettle sang its song Al added the water, waited for the tea to steep and while waiting he happened to glance over to the correspondence to see his face underneath a letter. After hastily moving the mail he realized that he was on the cover of _Celebrity Wizard Weekly_, but it wasn't just him. There he was at the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch, sitting next to Virginia Boyd and she had her hand in his. The headline read "Schoolgirl Comforts Grieving Actor."

Before he could open the magazine he heard the Floo from the other room. "Al, hey Al, you there?"

Al walked into the living room and saw the green-flamed head of Hugo Weasley looking at him. "Yeah, I'm here. What are you doing here? Thought you'd be deployed somewhere."

"Rotation. Three months back here, but what are you playing at?"

"What are you talking about, Hugo?" Al sat down in a chair and scooted it closer to the fireplace. "I don't…"

"Are you messing with Gin?" Hugo's tone wasn't very warm. "Why…"

"Merlin, Hugo. Saw _Celebrity Wizard Weekly_, did you? Believe everything you read?"

"See, you mean? I saw the picture of the two of you."

"What the fuck are you talking about? She was talking to me about Erin. Remember her, my dead wife?"

"Dammit that's not, ok I'm coming over." The green fire ceased suddenly and Hugo's head disappeared.

Al stood up quickly and walked into the kitchen, where the copy of _Celebrity Wizard Weekly_ lay on the table. He took in the front photo again and then flipped to the article. The writer was not one of his favorites, and Al shook his head as he realized the entire article was about how Virginia Boyd, seventh year student at Hogwarts and the oldest daughter of his godparents was the woman who was healing Al's broken heart. Al threw the magazine in the bin and walked upstairs.

Al was almost down the stairs after retrieving his wand when he heard the Floo, and his cousin Hugo stood in the living room, rapidly brushing Floo powder off of his uniform. Al held up his hand to stop Hugo from saying anything and motioned with his wand towards the kitchen. As they entered the kitchen Al walked over to the bin, pointed his wand at the magazine and set it on fire.

"Merlin's pants, Al, you'll set the house on fire." Hugo shook his head and looked at Al strangely.

"Not likely." Al cast _auguamenti_ and doused the fire. He looked at Hugo. "What's your problem?"

"Don't want you messing Gin around, that's what." Hugo stood across the table from Al, still wearing his cloak.

"What's it to you?"

Hugo's face changed from the stereotypical angry Weasley red and began to regain its usual tone. "Sorry, it's just…you got anything to eat?" 

After Hugo had taken off his cloak the two cousins began cooking a late breakfast. Neither of them said anything regarding the reason Hugo had come over to Grimmauld in a hurry until they were seated and ready to eat. Hugo had just taken a large bite of his omelet when Al pointed his fork at him.

"Why the sudden interest in Gin Boyd?"

Hugo finished chewing quickly and looked over to Al. "It's not sudden, really. We've, um…we've been writing to each other for a while now. At first it was just good to get letters from home, but…she's still at Hogwarts, Al, and I have no idea how long I'll be in, or whether this stupid war will ever end, and…"

Al began laughing, causing Hugo to put down his fork in disgust.

"I'm here telling you this and you start laughing? Dammit, Al…"

"I'm not moving in on your girl, Hugo. Gin's like a little sister, I mean, I spent so much time over there with HR. It's not like that. Damn." Al ran his hand through his hair and sat back in the chair. "Does anybody…"

"No. And we want to keep it that way. Look, I don't have a lot of time before I have to go back. I don't want to screw it up or have you and the bloody press screw it up. You've got to do something."

"Me? What do you want me to do?"

"Give them an interview. You haven't done one since…" Hugo looked down at his plate.

Al sighed. "You didn't finish. Since Erin died. I know." He looked over at his cousin. "Maybe it's time. Time for the interview and everything else."

"Just the interview would be great, Al. Don't do anything else if you don't want to."

Al shook his head. "That's the thing, Hugo. If I didn't do anything that I didn't want to I'd be here for the rest of my life. Gin was right, it isn't what Erin would want. I just don't know how to start."

Hugo sat there for a while, and then took a sip of tea. "Al, in two weeks it's a Hogsmeade weekend. Gin and me are going to the WeasleyVision theatre, we're taking Paige because she's never seen one. Why don't you go with us? It's not a date, it's just Paige, but it might do you good. You could use your movie makeup or whatever and make it so nobody even realizes its you."

Al looked over to the still slightly smoldering rubbish bin. "Ok, Hugo. Ok."


	5. Permission

Permission (June 2030)

Al looked around his dressing room, wondering what he'd gotten himself into. What was he thinking? A Muggle play? Sure, it was a very small theater in Wales, one that was so out of the way that the performance wasn't even listed in the free paper that the Muggle arts scene used regularly, but the possibilities of things going wrong were high, very high. That last WeasleyVision script had been the straw that had broken the camel's back, though; an alternative universe where Sirius Black hadn't died in the Department of Mysteries. After reading some of the scenes, especially the one where his uncle Ron was killed instead of Sirius and how eventually the grief involved led Sirius to marry Hermione Granger was just too much. What was the deal with the wizarding world's fascination with his family?

He'd told Florence Coswock that he was taking some time off and had wandered around Europe, visiting the great Muggle and wizarding cities, viewing the art and watching theater when he'd ended up in Cardiff one day and stopped for a cup of coffee at a small shop. While sitting and reading the Muggle news he'd noticed a small article, way at the back of the Arts section saying that a new play was being cast and something just clicked. This was the chance to prove that he could really act without the WeasleyVision magic, without the magical transformations that occurred when becoming a character. Polyjuice potion had never been allowed, but there was still some magic that went on, from making people taller, changing their voices slightly, things like that. This was the chance to see if he could do it just like the Muggles, like Mike Greene, his godfather's old college roommate and his acting mentor. He'd taken the paper and navigated to the address, and surprisingly a few days later found out that he'd won the role as the second male lead.

Now he sat in the dressing room, finger tracing the swirl of the Celtic knot tattoo on his arm and wondering what Erin would have thought of everything. What would she have made of him living like a Muggle, ignoring the wizarding world and turning his back temporarily on WeasleyVision movies?

A small knock on his door broke his concentration, and the head of one of the production people came around the corner. The woman looked at him apologetically.

"Mr. Henry? Five minutes."

"Ok." Al nodded and sat up and looked in the mirror. His hair was long, almost past his shoulders, and he pulled it back into a ponytail. Time to go see what would happen.

As Al entered the pub he was still on a massive endorphin rush from the play; even though there were only about fifteen or twenty people in the audience everything had gone off without a hitch except for a prop vase that fell down off of a shelf during his big speech. His castmates and the crew were waiting for him and he heard their excited calls for him to join them almost as soon as he entered the pub.

"Al Henry that was bloody brilliant, how you incorporated that vase into your big monologue! We'll have to work that in!" The director, James Madden, was ecstatic. "Oi, get Henry a beer!"

Al sat down and soon was in the midst of a happy, drunken group. Yes, their play would probably never be noticed by anyone and yes, to be honest the script was horribly clichéd, but Al didn't care. He'd done it. As he reached for the pitcher of beer another hand hit his, and he looked over to see a woman he'd never met before.

"By all means, you can get the beer this round." The dark haired woman with freckles moved her hand off of the beer pitcher and smiled at him, and he noticed a small gap between her front teeth. "I'm Delyth, by the way."

"Al. I'll be back in a moment with the beer, then." Al grabbed the pitcher and went over to the bar, where the bartender eventually deigned to wait on him. After returning with the beer he noticed that Delyth had switched seats and was now sitting next to him.

"So, Al, what's your story, then? Slumming it here in Wales? That's a London accent I heard onstage, isn't it?"

"Yes, you're right. Doing a bit of traveling and saw the advert. Thought it would be fun." Al took a sip of beer. "Are you with the crew? I don't remember seeing you at rehearsals."

"Nah, I'm not on the crew. I'm actually Jimmy's ex. Promised him I'd come to the premiere when he wrote the bloody thing, couldn't very well back out."

"That's awfully nice of you. Not too many ex-girlfriends would do that." Al sat back in his chair. "So what'd you think?"

Delyth looked over to Jimmy, who was deep in conversation with the lead actress and his stage manager, and then leaned forward and motioned for Al to lean in closely. When she was in whispering distance, she softly said "I think its shite, was then and it is now, but you were the best thing in it, Potter."

As Delyth leaned back and smiled Al's heart began beating fast; his head started swimming and he had the feeling that he was being suffocated. It was all he could do to not jump out of the chair and bolt towards the door or worse, apparate on the spot. Before he could do anything he felt a tap on his leg, underneath the table. He looked toward Delyth, and she looked down at the table. When Al put his hand down underneath the table he felt Delyth put a piece of paper in his hand. A few seconds later she got up from the table, announced that she had an early appointment the next morning and left. Al sat there and rolled the paper around in his hand a while before shoving it into his pants pocket. After a few more drinks of beer Al headed towards the loo, and after entering a stall, sitting down and closing the door he looked at the paper in his hand. The paper was a torn off piece of the program from the play.

_I know who you are, your secret's safe with me._

An address to a flat was listed, and Al looked at his watch. Another ten minutes, and then he'd find out what was going on.

* * *

Al woke up and found the sun streaming through the window in an unfamiliar bed. He sat up and after realizing what had happened put his head in his hands. He opened and closed his eyes again, hoping it wasn't real, that it was just a dream, but it was real. It had happened. Al gently slid out of bed and found his clothes, and after getting dressed he walked as quietly as possible into the other room of the flat, the combination kitchen and dining room. What had happened? It all seemed like a blur.

After finding the right cupboard that held glasses he put a small cup under the tap and filled it with water, drinking all of it in one go, then repeated the process. Looking out of the small kitchen window all he could see were rooftops, wires going from pole to pole and birds. One bird, though, wasn't like the others, as it grew bigger and began it's descent towards the window. Not knowing what else to do Al opened the window and watched the owl land on the back of a chair at the kitchen table. After removing the letters Al realized that he wasn't alone, as Delyth stood in the doorway only wearing a robe.

"Oh joy, the mail. Can't wait to see which bill I'm behind on now. Morning."

"Morning." Al handed her the envelopes, but after reading the first one she handed it to him.

"Looks like someone found you, besides me." Delyth opened her letter and after rolling her eyes threw it into the bin. "Didn't get the job, not surprised."

Al watched as she filled the kettle and started tea. He hadn't moved, and she turned and looked at him.

"Not going to open it? Ok, privacy, I understand. Yell when the kettle's ready, please." She turned and walked back into the bedroom, closing the door behind her.

Al hurriedly opened the envelope, not bothering to look to see who it was from. He instantly recognized his godmother Melody's handwriting, and after reading a bit he looked in the bin to find the envelope, fished around inside and pulled out an elegantly written invitation. "Bloody hell, now that's a surprise."

"Tell me about it." Delyth walked in and sat down at the kitchen table, now fully dressed. "I go to see this Muggle play that my Muggle ex-boyfriend wrote, and who do I see on stage but Albus Potter. I just about lost it." She smiled up at him and then looked over to the kettle. "Oh come on, I need a cuppa."

"Did you go to Hogwarts?"

"No, Pryderi. It's very small. Not everyone gets into Hogwarts, you know." She shrugged her shoulders and then looked over to the kettle. "Come on, already."

Almost as if on cue the kettle began whistling, and Delyth waved over everything with her wand and set about making her tea. After she'd finished Al made his cup, and as it was steeping he looked over to her.

"Um, about last night…"

Delyth looked at him with a warm smile on her face. "No, don't say anything. Look, I'm not looking to become Mrs. Potter or sell my story to the papers, though it would be fun to see 'Local Lass Shags Reclusive Actor' or summing like that, just let it be. It was nice, it was fun, and now you'll be leaving. There are worse things, you know." She looked to the letter in Al's hand. "So, good surprise or bad surprise?

"Good, I guess. It's a wedding invitation, one I definitely didn't expect." Al ran his hands through his hair, and as he sat his arms back down on the table to finish preparing his tea he noticed his Celtic knot tattoo. Somehow the colors seemed almost brighter.

"I hate to burst your bubble and whatnot but I won't be accompanying you. I know it's not really polite, but what the hell, I'll probably never see you again. You called me Erin last night. That was your wife's name, wasn't it?"

Whatever had been going through his mind was suddenly gone, as that was the absolute last thing that Al expected to hear. "Merlin's pants, I'm so sorry."

Delyth shook her head. "No worries. I understand, I read the articles. You're just not ready for…listen, one day you will be. Just do me a favor?"

"Uh, sure."

"Can you send me an autographed picture of your brother? My mum's a Puddlemere supporter."

When Al opened the door at Grimmauld it was as he expected, dark, dusty and full of cobwebs. It was at times like this that he missed Kreacher, but the old house elf was now living a pampered life in Godric's Hollow with his parents. Well, he was the last time that he'd heard, which had been a long time ago. Al moved through the hallway and made his way into the kitchen, where he took out his wand and began cleaning. All those years of doing punishment with his mother and gran had burnt those cleaning spells into his brain, and no amount of wizarding rust could erase that.

After cleaning up the kitchen he found some tea, started the kettle and sat down for a bit. The calendar on the wall still said it was February of 2029, and Al laughed. It was quiet in Grimmauld, too quiet.

After making his way to the fireplace, removing the cobwebs and relocating a small family of bats, Al figured he would see if his brother was home. He waved his wand and began the spell, moving his head into the swirl of green Floo-created fire. "James? You there, James?"

Al heard a woman shriek and saw a bare pair of legs run out of the room. Al laughed, and before he could call out again his brother was in front of the fireplace.

"Holy hippogriffs, you really are alive. Thanks for the advance warning, Al." James' tone was happy, yet sarcastic. "Your spells were really effective. You have no idea how hard Mum's been trying to get in and clean your place."

"I'm proud of them. Who's the lucky lady this time? One of the Puddlemere groupies?"

"No." James looked around, and then leaned closer. "I'll fill you in later. You got the invitation, then?"

"Yeah." Al shook his head. "Can't believe this one. Did you have any idea?"

James shook his head. "Not really, but then again we really don't go in the same circles. How long are you back for, just stopping in or here for good?"

"Good, I think. How's everyone been?"

"Didn't read one of my letters for a year and you expect me to fill you in over the Floo? Give me a half hour and then come on over."

Al brushed the Floo powder off after making it over to James' flat. He'd meant to come on the hour as expected, but had been caught up unpacking and cleaning the bedroom. It had been the dust over Erin's dressing table that had stopped him cold, even after all this time.

"About time, little brother. Do you need a new watch for Christmas?" James walked in and gave his brother a big hug, and then punched him in the arm. "You could've done more than just the 'hey I'm alive don't worry' notes, you know. Mum wanted to send out the Aurors but Dad and Uncle Ron wouldn't let her."

"Sorry, I just needed some time away." James nodded towards the kitchen, and Al followed. "I didn't mean for it to be so long, but a week ran into another and the next thing I knew…"

"You'd been gone for over a year." James shook his head. "You know I get asked about you after every match. Bloody annoying."

"Sorry. I know you've got butterbeer, but do you have any of that Muggle beer, the kind Hank likes? I'm going to need a few of those to really fill you in."

"I did, back when I expected you to turn up after a few weeks, but I drank all of them. It's butterbeer or tea."

"Some international Quidditch star you are." Al sat down and accepted the butterbeer that James had pulled from the fridge. After taking a drink he noticed James hadn't sat down yet. "Something wrong?"

James smiled and shook his head. "No, nothing's wrong. You've been away for a while, little brother. Things have happened."

"And that's why I'm here instead of cleaning up at my place. So what's the big news? You're pregnant?" Al shook his head and had a very serious look on his face. "It'll completely ruin your figure."

"Oh bloody hell, hold on a mo."

James walked out of the room, and Al drained the rest of the butterbeer. Al had his head in the fridge pulling out another when he heard James clear his throat.

"Al, you remember Alice, right?"

Al pulled his head out of the fridge, and there, next to his older brother stood little Alice Longbottom, except she wasn't little Alice anymore, she was somewhat tall, curvy Alice.

"Oh, hey Alice. Good to see you again." Al looked at Alice, then over to James. "Fuck it, James. Let's go get some firewhiskey."

Alice Longbottom sat on sofa with her feet in James Potter's lap, and Al was in a daze. Three-quarters of the bottle of firewhiskey were gone, and it seemed to Al as if he'd had all of it.

"Let me get this straight, and correct me if I'm wrong. Good grief, I feel like I'm cramming for one of Professor Farnsworth's DADA tests. Scorpius Malfoy is marrying Hermione Boyd. Mione, little Mione. That's happening on Saturday. Rose and Simon have a one-year old son, Hugo Weasley is still seeing Virginia Boyd and Aunt Hermione wants to quit working at the Ministry and start up a wizarding university. Am I missing anything?"

"Helloooo?" Alice waved at Al.

"Oh yeah, you've moved in with James. Bloody hell, it's like a soap opera."

"They've started those on WeasleyTV, you know." Alice nodded towards the screen hanging on the nearby wall. "Some of them aren't bad."

"Is there one about our family? There should be, by Godric. I mean, why can't we have a nice, boring family?" Al shook his head and levitated the bottle over to him. "Why can't it be stuff like the cat threw up on the new rug?"

"I don't know, Mr. I'm-Going-To-Disappear-For-Over-A-Year, you tell me." James shook his head, and then suddenly his expression changed from lighthearted to serious. "I've got a letter for you. Now before you flip out as usual, this one's different. It's from Erin's parents."

"I don't know if I want to…"

"Just read it, Al. What you do later is up to you." James moved Alice's feet off of his lap and left the room, returning later with an envelope. "Just take it."

Al took the envelope, and thought about waiting to read it later, but curiosity got the better of him and he slowly opened the envelope, recognizing his former mother-in-law's handwriting. As Al read the letter he realized that he'd been selfish, completely and utterly selfish. He'd lost his wife, but the Doyle's had lost their daughter. Somewhere in the back of his thoughts he'd always known this, but he'd been too wrapped up in his own pain, his own little world. When he finished reading he looked up to the expectant faces of James and Alice.

"It's ok. I need to see them soon. After the wedding, I guess. Um, maybe you could go with me."

"Sure, Al. Sure." James nodded. "Be glad to."

Al stood in his bedroom at Grimmauld Place, looking in the mirror. His hair needed a trim, and he pulled it back into a ponytail. Looking at his face closely in the mirror he was tired of it all; the hair, the beard, everything. Erin had always liked the long hair, but she wasn't here any more, and he definitely wasn't playing Sirius next week. Time to make a change. Al lifted up his wand, but stopped just before doing anything drastic. Yes, he could probably do a decent job, but if he was going to do it he wanted it done properly. The only person he could think of to cut his hair was his mum, but that was a conversation he didn't want to have right away. He racked his brain, trying to think of who else he could contact, when he finally remembered. He wondered if she'd take his call; if she did it was time to open the Floo up all the way.

After a quick Floo call and an arrival in the fireplace, Al saw her shaking the powder off of her blue-green hair. "Good to see you, Penny."

"You too, caveman. You really do need some help, you know." Penny smiled and walked over to him, her small bag slung over her shoulder.

Al hugged her and kissed her on the cheek, then held her at arm's length. "I can't remember the last time I actually saw you. When was it?"

Penny squinted, kept one eye closed and looked at Al through her opened eye. "Hmmm…probably the party at Will's house after our seventh year. You know, the one where Hadley tried to kiss the girl with the…"

"…very protective boyfriend. Right. Yeah, that didn't go well."

"Well, um, we saw you another time, but you didn't see us. You were in London, right after…"

Al knew what she was talking about. "After Erin died. Yeah, that press conference thing I had to do for the Ministry. Bloody hell that was awful. I'm just glad the damn war's over now. Maybe I can get back into movies."

Penny reached out and picked up Al's hair, looking at it closely. "Not with this hair, it looks awful. You haven't done anything with it lately, have you?"

Al shook his head. "No, sorry. Probably should have."

"You're lucky I make house calls for stupid gits. If you were in my salon I'd charge you an arm and a leg. Still might. Ok, now let's get to this. You've only got a day before the wedding and if you make me botch it up it'll take a while to re-grow." Penny took out her little bag, reached inside and came up with a pair of scissors, which floated above Al's head and moved back and forth rapidly, making a very distinct and metallic sound as the two parts of the scissors moved past each other. "So just trim off the dead ends?"

"Nope." Al looked over to Penny and sighed. "Short. Some style, but mostly make it short. And if you can I'd like to lose the beard, too."

"Well, well, well, finally listening to my advice after all these years." Penny laughed, took Al by the hand and after entering the kitchen she sat him down on a chair. "Ok, last chance to chicken out?"

"Go for it, Pen."

Penny smirked, and then took out her wand and gave Al a quick shampoo and rinse, then with another wave made his hair just dry enough to cut easily. As Al's hair was pulled back into a ponytail he felt a slight tug, and then Penny placed something in his lap.

"Thought you might enjoy seeing that, or keeping it for the day you go bald and tell your kids you once had hair." Penny smiled and kept cutting his hair.

"No kids, Penny, I'm not married anymore."

"And those hot little actresses haven't lined up to see you?" Penny's voice changed into a shrill squeak. "Oh Albus Potter you're a sex god come take me and do what you will!"

The two old friends laughed, and Al started to shake his head but didn't get very far before Penny put her hand on the top of his head to stop its movement. "I can't re-grow hair that fast. Keep still."

"No, can't say that's happened. What about you and Will? Last time I ran into Hadley he said that you two were on and off a lot. Hope that isn't my fault."

"No, Will can just be a spoiled ass, that's all. His family's still a mess; his father married some young Italian tart and now Will's got a two-year old little brother named Marco or Enrico or summing like that." She stepped in front of Al and pulled his newly created bangs down in front of his eyes, then cut off a large portion of them. "We're still together. He wants to get married but I'm not so sure I'm ready to be Mrs. Jensen's Floo Powder. I like my little shop."

"Can't you do both?"

"Not according to him. Maybe you could talk some sense into him, Al."

"You're asking the guy who checked out on the world for over a year to give advice? I don't think that's a good idea, Pen."

"Well, make him realize what he's missing, how he's being stupid."

Penny was almost eye-level with Al, and he looked at her. "Make him realize that he's lucky to have you, that it could all be gone in a moment?"

The scissors stopped moving, and Penny stood back from Al. "That's not what I meant, Al. I'm sorry. We all are. A lot of people died in the war. I didn't mean to…"

Al held up his hand. "I know, Penny, I know. I ran away from everything, but I'm not running anymore. It's time to realize that we're lucky to still be alive and have what we have, whatever that may be. Doesn't matter if it's a little hair shop or a big Floo powder company. We're here, and we need to take advantage of it."

Penny stood with a hand on one of her hips. "I've missed you, Al. I'm glad you're back. And if I must say so, I do bloody wonderful work. You look smashing."

Penny held up a mirror, and Al looked back at his new short-haired, clean cut reflection. "Not too bad, not bad at all."

Al nervously stood at the in front of the little row house at the door; he ran his hand over his drastically shortened hair and debated whether to knock, but finally he summoned up the courage and knocked. As soon as he had knocked the barking began, and he could hear the dogs running close to the door, then away from the door and then back to the door, this time with footsteps mixed in. The door opened and Albus smiled, but the man behind the door didn't.

"Don't want any of what you're selling, thank you."

"Mr. Doyle, Brendan, it's me. Al."

Brendan Doyle looked through the screen part of the door at the man who stood in front of him. "Not likely, lad. Al Potter has great shaggy hair, a pitiful looking beard and the biggest collection of ugly tattoos on his arms that you'd ever see."

Albus smiled as he pushed up his sleeves.

Brendan reached into his shirt pocket and put on his glasses. "Biggest collection of interesting tattoos you've ever seen. Al, my boy, come in, come in." Brendan opened the door and pulled Al into a hug. "I've been wondering when you'd come to see us. She's in the back, and…" Brendan stopped and looked down. "Oh for Merlin's sake, Al, pet the boys before they explode. I'll go fetch Maeve."

Al knelt down and the two corgis wiggled their butts, put their front paws on his leg and tried to lick him. Steve managed to get a good one on Al's cheek, but Chub hadn't lost any weight lately, so he didn't manage until Al put his face closer.

"Oh Albus!"

Al stood up and Maeve wrapped her arms around his waist, and he patted her slightly on her back. When she pulled apart from him Al could see that she'd been crying.

"Oh look at me, I haven't seen you in ages and here I am looking like this." Maeve pushed her steel - grey curls behind her shoulders. "You look so nice, Albus. I think this is the only time I've ever seen you with short hair outside of your school pictures."

"I thought it was time for a change. Any chance I can get a cup of tea?"

Maeve drew herself up to her full height, which wasn't much, and looked sternly at Al. "The day you go away from this house without a cup of tea is the day…"

"The earth ends." Brendan put his hand on Al's shoulder. "Come on, then."

Al sat at the table and leaned back in a chair, resting his head on the counter behind him as he'd done many times before. He'd told the Doyles about his travelling about, how he'd just been too restless. Maeve was surprised that he hadn't been drafted for the war, and Al finally told her what he'd only told Erin a few months before she shipped out; he actually had been drafted, but his job was to build the morale of the troops by doing movies and celebrity appearances. After Erin had died the army hadn't really discharged him, but they gave him as much time off as he needed. Technically he was still a soldier at the moment, even though he'd never worn the uniform.

"You should probably report in soon, before they throw you in the brig." Brendan pointed his pipe towards Al. "Won't do to see you in prison."

"I've been in my own prison, but that's one of the reasons why I came over to see you." Al leaned forward, pulled his tea cup closer and took a sip. "I need to ask for your permission."

"Our permission?" Brendan looked at Al oddly. "You're a grown man, Al. What would you need our permission for?"

Maeve looked at Al, and when she caught his eyes they both knew what he was trying to say. Maeve smiled sadly. "To let her go, Brendan. To let her go."

"Not let her go, but to let her be." Al looked down at his teacup, then back up at his in-laws. "I miss her so much, sometimes I don't know how I'll make it through the day, but she wouldn't want this, would she?"

"No lad, she wouldn't. She was a tough one, our little Erin. She'd probably jinx you a few times until you shaped up and began flying right, she would." Brendan looked over at his wife, and put his hand on top of hers. They looked at each other for a while, and then turned back to Al.

"Albus, you'll always be our son. We want you to be happy. Know that Erin wanted that more than anything for you. When you got that role in London, she was so excited. Packed her things faster than you could ever imagine." Maeve sniffed a couple of times, and accepted the handkerchief that Brendan offered her. "Just don't forget about us. Sure we'll see you the screen and in the movies, but it's not the same. Stop by sometime, at least for the boys. Look at them."

Al looked down to see that Chub was asleep under his chair while Steve was lying on his back not too far from Chub. He laughed when seeing the corgis do their usual routine. He happened to see his watch and realized that he couldn't stay much longer. "I hate to say this, but I've got to be leaving soon. I'm supposed to go to a wedding. Not sure how I'm going to manage that, the last wedding I attended was…"

Maeve put her hand on his arm. "All the more reason to remember. Remember the good things, Albus. That's what we do. We're grateful for the time we had. Down the other way lies madness."

Al stood up and after hugging Brendan he received a hug and a big kiss on the cheek from Maeve. Before he could break away she held both of her hands on the sides of his face.

"She loved you more than anything, and because of that you need to live your life, Albus. Don't throw it away in despair. Live. Love. She'll always be with you, just as she's with us."

* * *

When Al appeared at the wedding location in his dress robes he wasn't sure what he planned to say when people asked him the questions he knew would be coming. He'd panicked at the last minute and decided that if he came with a date it would be much easier than coming alone. As he walked with his date he wondered what he'd been drinking when he came up with that idea. They walked down the road towards the large house, and Al wondered whether he'd actually been at the house before, as it seemed somewhat familiar.

"Invitation please?" A very bored looking teenager sat at a little gate and held out his hand.

"Um, I think I left it at home on the counter." Al began searching through his dress robe.

"Sorry, no invitation, no admittance. Please move to the left so guests with actual invitations may enter."

Al looked behind him, and there was nobody behind them except for one couple, and the woman was trying to fix the man's tie. "Look, I'm on the guest list, I responded back when I got the invitation, I just don't have it with me. Can you send someone to Melody Boyd? She'll vouch for me."

The dark-headed boy looked up dramatically, but didn't move his head. "Right. Mother of the bride. Day of the wedding because you lost your invitation."

"I didn't lose it; I just don't have it with me." Al was starting to get angry. "Fine, can you see if someone can go find my sister."

The boy let out a giant, weary sigh. "And who might your sister be?"

"Lily Boyd. I know she's here, and…"

The boy behind the counter stood up rapidly, his attitude and posture changed immediately. "Oh. My. Merlin. Albus Potter, oh my Merlin, Albus Potter is right here in front of me. Oh my…I loved your Sirius, so moody and tormented. So, so tragic! It was like one of the only true things in that movie."

Al felt his date pinch him slightly, and he smiled at her. Turning his attention to the invitation taker he assumed his "crazy fan" demeanor, the one he used when people were overly excited. "Thank you, it's always good hearing that I've really connected with an audience. Um, do you want me to go back to my house and get the invitation, or…"

The boy clasped both of his hands over his mouth and looked mortified. "Oh no no no, no no no, no, you don't have to, go on in, go on in. I'm so sorry, I didn't recognize you without your hair and the beard. Much nicer, very clean cut. Rugged, even. Oh Merlin, can I get a picture? Thanks!" The boy took out a camera before Al could say anything and took a quick picture. "I love all of your movies!"

"Thanks." Al began chuckling as he walked away, and soon they were in the mess of wedding attendees. Luckily the first people he saw were Lily and HR, both of them bent over and struggling to keep Artie's shoes on. Al walked up to them, still holding the hand of his date, and laughed at the two of them.

"Well it's about bloody time you got here and got rid of that ridiculous hair." Lily looked up at her brother. "James said you were back at Grimmauld. Maybe you can keep his shoes on."

Al looked over to HR and noticed that his friend was exasperated. "Sure." Al took out his wand and made an almost tangible airplane and set it to hover over Artie. While his nephew was distracted, he flicked his want a couple of times at the boy's shoes. "There, all done."

"What'd you do to my son?" Lily stood up and Al noticed that she was starting to resemble Granny Weasley in more ways than one.

"I just fixed his shoes. We use the same spell on set so our shoes don't come untied." Al shook his head. "It'll be fine. Spell wears off in four or five hours."

"So he's got to nap in his shoes, does he?" Lily looked at HR and shook her head, but then she fixed Al's date directly in the eye. "Please tell me you know the counter for that spell."

"No, sorry, I don't."

Al took pity on her. "Delyth, this is my sister Lily and her husband HR. The red haired hellion is my nephew Artie."


	6. Improvise

Chapter 6: Improvise

_July 2030_

Al and Delyth sat towards the back on the groom's side, HR's suggestion, as there obviously wouldn't be many people sitting on the groom's side of the aisle. Sitting there also allowed Al to avoid the questions he knew he was going to get in abundance after the ceremony.

Delyth straightened her skirt a bit and then adjusted her feathered hat. "If I would have known this morning that I'd be attending a wedding I would have been prepared, but no. You pop up at my doorstep saying you needed help, all movie-star spit and polished in your dress robes and idiot me, I said I'd be happy to help before asking what I was getting into. You're just lucky I had the hat."

"You look very nice. Thanks again." Al glanced over to the bride's side of the aisle and caught Rosie looking at them, but she quickly looked away. "Maybe we shouldn't stay for the reception…"

"Don't be silly, that would be rude." Delyth glanced over at him, and then was silent for a while. "Albus, are you embarrassed to be seen with me?"

"What? No!"

"Come on. So when they ask how we met, and you know they will, are you going to say 'Oh, I met her in a pub and then went back to her place for a quick shag?' That will be wonderful."

Al shook his head. "Stop it. I just…"

"Come on, out with it."

Al's shoulders slumped slightly. "I didn't think I could do this alone. I had to come, and…well, you were the first person I thought of."

s"So if you'd chatted up a bird at a coffee shop, she'd be here instead of me?"

"Delyth, no, it's…damn."

"Better the first person than the last resort, I guess." Delyth tried to pull down her skirt a bit. "This is too short for a wedding, I look like a tart."

Al laughed, and Delyth pinched him. "Ow! You don't look like a tart. You look very nice."

"Nice as in Grandmother Approved nice or…"

"Enough. Oh Merlin, my Gran." Al thought of the inevitable introduction. "Listen, about my family, um, that lot will probably ask you a lot of embarrassing questions. Try to stay away from my Uncle George. Godric, what have I done to you?"

"The truth?" Delyth looked at him. "You've saved me from another day of listening to my mum go on about how I'm wasting my life clerking for the railroad, how I need to get a second job, how I am much too old to be single, that my flat is horrible and how nice it would be if I would just go out with the grandson of one of her knitting group friends. After that I'd go home, open up something tinned for supper and sit down to watch Quidditch. Trust me, this is better." Delyth's smirk suddenly faded. "You asked a friend to help you out, and that's what I've done. We're friends, Al. I hope we are, anyway."

"We are. Friends. Definitely." Al leaned back into his chair. What had he done, inviting her at the last minute? Sure, he liked her, she didn't treat him like the son of The Boy Who Lived or a film star, if anything she liked taking the mickey out of him. After all, Maeve had said to live his life. But was it too soon? Sod it; it was just a date to a wedding. As friends. 

After the ceremony ended Al and Delyth worked their way to the reception line, luckily nowhere near his family, and after congratulating the happy couple they made their way towards the bar. Al motioned to the bartender.

"Firewhiskey and…" He turned to Delyth. "I don't even know what you drink."

Delyth leaned forward. "Flaming Dragon."

"What is that?"

"Firewhiskey and a shot of wizarding Russian liquor. I've done a bit of bartending in my time."

When they'd received their drinks Al turned towards Delyth and took a deep breath. "Ok, ready?"

"You don't mind if I have a bit of fun with this, do you?" She smirked at him. "I've been coming up with a few ideas that should make things interesting."

Al smiled and shook his head. "I'm just going to follow your lead."

"You're an actor; improvise."

Al steered Delyth through the crowd until Delyth found an empty table and pulled him towards it, saying that it would be fun to find out who beat a path to their table first. They sat down and had only taken one sip of their drinks when James and Alice sat down.

James smacked Al on the shoulder. "I just saw your godmother drink three firewhiskeys in a row. She still can't believe she's related to the Malfoys now."

Al laughed. "If the stories I've heard about her when she and Hank got together are half true, this is going to be a good night."

James didn't respond, instead he held out his hand towards Delyth. "Hello, I'm…"

"James Potter, Puddlemere United. My mum's your biggest fan. I'm Delyth."

Al introduced Alice, and soon with the small talk about the ceremony and Quidditch out of the way, the time for the question had arrived.

"So, Delyth, how did you and Al meet?" Alice sipped her drink through a small straw. "On one of the films?"

"Yes." Delyth nodded, her expression very serious. "I was the body double for a nude scene. Once Al had seen me starkers, well, that was that."

Al had been taking a drink of his firewhiskey, and after Delyth said that the contents of his mouth went all over his brother.

"Bloody hell, Al! I just got this cleaned!" James grabbed a napkin, but Alice beat him to it and took out her wand, siphoning off the excess firewhiskey.

"Sorry, I'm teasing." Delyth smiled at Al. "I was the winner of the Meet Al Potter contest at the local cinema. Stood in line for four days. Only used the loo twice."

"Now that's impressive."

HR stood over Alice's shoulder, holding Artie. Lily stood next to him, pulled out a chair and sat down. After handing Artie to Lily, HR sat down as well.

"Oh Albus! You finally cut that hair!" Molly Weasley walked towards the table with Arthur. Once she came close enough she kissed Al on the cheek, and then she and Arthur sat down as well.

"Gran, Delyth here is just telling us how she met Al." James smirked at his brother, and then looked over to his gran. "It's fascinating."

"And how did you meet Albus, dear?" Molly looked expectantly at Delyth.

At this point Al couldn't take it any longer. "At a pub, Gran. We met at a pub after a play. It was a small Muggle play in Cardiff that nobody would ever know about."

"I like her stories better. Tell me another one." James grinned at Delyth. "Come on, Al's story is too boring so it has to be true. Give us another."

"No, I couldn't." Delyth smiled. "Well maybe one more. Yes, it was at the pub, but it wasn't like that. My husband had been seeing another woman behind my back, so when I went to the pub to confront him he tried to curse me, and Al saved me. Very romantic. Well, at least it was until my kids starting crying about how they wanted fed that day."

"Brilliant." James chuckled, and then noticed the horrified look on his Gran's face, and then he burst out laughing.

"It's the boring story, Gran. She's just doing that to wind up James." Al smiled apologetically at Molly, but when he saw his sister's I Am Not Amused face he blanched. "Lils, it's the boring one. Come on." 

Al was making his way back to the table after using the loo, hurrying to get back before everyone said something horrible to Delyth, when he was grabbed from behind and pushed towards an out-of-the-way spot. When the hands let him go he turned around to see who had done it, expecting it to be his Uncle George or his godfather Hank. It wasn't.

"Albus Severus Potter, I should brain you."

"Hi Mum."

"You don't Floo, you don't stop by, all I get for over ONE YEAR are notes saying 'I'm still alive' and you show up now and all I get is HI MUM?" Ginny Potter's face was red, matching her hair.

"And who's that woman?" Rosie stood with her hands on her hips, angry as well. "The last time I got anything about you it, well, it…I didn't need to see that, thank you very much."

"I think you have some explaining to do." Hermione looked at Al and shook her head. "Do you have any idea how worried we've all been?"

"Ok, ok, calm down. I had to figure some things out, ok?" Al had initially felt guilty, but now he was mad. "And I'm not seven anymore, I can do what I want. Now I'm sorry I didn't write more or visit, but I'm back now, right? Stop it. If you're going to be like this I'll wait until you've calmed down." He looked over at his cousin. "And I really don't want to know what you saw, Rosie."

"Good to see you, Al." Hank Boyd walked over, stepped between Rosie and Hermione and gave Al a hug. During the hug he whispered "I'll get you out of this."

Ginny wasn't satisfied. "Hank, I'm glad you're happy to see my son, but…"

"I think I'll have a talk with Al now, but we both need a drink. Yes, that's it." Hank grabbed Al by the arm and walked him out of the angry witches.

After they'd made it a little ways away Al looked over to his godfather. "Thanks. I knew that was going to happen, but I didn't think they'd gang up on me like that."

"And you've been a part of the family how long?" Hank shook his head at his godson. "I think your dad had to sit on your mother when you walked in. So, besides the haircut and shave, looks like something else is going on. Care to fill me in?"

"We need the drinks first." Al shook his head. "And then I've got to get back to the table. Delyth is there with James, Lily and Gran."

"Oh shit, that's not good. Delyth, huh? Fill me in."

After receiving their firewhiskeys Al downed his and ordered another immediately. "You're not going to believe this, but I actually don't know a lot. We met at a pub, things went well, and…we're just friends, really, that's it. She's just helping me out, but I really didn't think it through." Al drank half of his firewhiskey and realized that his godfather was doing his 'stay quiet and let people talk' bit. "I wouldn't have even asked her if I hadn't stopped by the Doyle's."

"Really?" Hank took a drink. "What happened there?"

"They helped me put things in perspective. Made me realize that I couldn't hide from the world for the rest of my life. I didn't plan it out, I just showed up at her door earlier this morning."

Hank studied Al's face. He knew that Al had tortured himself for the last couple of years, and the fact that he had visited the Doyles and brought a date to the wedding was a big step for him. "Take it easy. Take it slow, things will work themselves out how they're supposed to. Life's messy, and things happen for a reason. I'm just glad to see you here."

"No way I was going to miss this. My little sister Mione getting married, and to Scorpius Malfoy? I heard Melody's still getting used to the idea."

Hank laughed. "Oh yeah, that's an understatement. When Mione told us, Mel was happy, said all the right things, and then later that night when Mione and Scorpius left she drank a half bottle of firewhiskey and sent me down to the village shop for cigarettes. She smoked one and coughed the whole time."

"No way. Melody?" Al laughed. "Come on. I'll introduce you. Hopefully she hasn't told anymore whoppers. She's been making up stories on how we met, and they're…well…let's just say Uncle George would approve." 

Al and Delyth arrived at Grimmauld, shaking the Floo powder from their hair. Delyth stepped out of the fireplace and looked around.

"This place is familiar. I've seen it someplace before, I think. It's a little different, but…"

"If you've seen the movies, you have, sort of. This is Grimmauld Place. My dad inherited it from his godfather, Sirius Black. It's my place now, Mum and Dad built a house over in Godric's Hollow. James likes his flat and says it's too big for him, and Lils and HR have their own place, so it's mine."

Delyth gave him a quizzical glance. "And you played Sirius Black. How…weird."

"It is, isn't it?" Al nodded towards the kitchen. "Cup of tea? I know I could use one."

Delyth followed him to the kitchen, sat down at the table and watched Al start the kettle. It felt odd to her, as if she was in a movie. As she looked around she noticed the calendar. "I think you could stand a new calendar. You're a little off."

"That's true in more ways than one."

"Stop it." Delyth shook her head. "Al, everybody knows that we're just friends. Even your gran is convinced now. I think. The whole wizarding world knows what you've been through, so you are most definitely not off. Took me a while to convince your Mum and your sister, though. And your cousin, the one with the flower name?"

"Rosie."

"Right. I overheard her saying to someone that she saw you with another woman. Someone named Paige. What does that mean?"

The kettle sang its song and Al prepared the tea, sat the cups down on the table and pushed one over to Delyth. "Rosie's a seer, though she's not always right. She says she sees possibilities, sometimes they're right and sometimes they aren't. Paige is HR's cousin, she lives in America. She was there, the one in the blue and green dress, didn't have on a hat." He noticed her confused expression. "The girl who kept staring at the chameleon champagne."

"Hmmm…right. Well, Rosie sounds like she's already got it all figured out for you. Written in the stars."

Al rolled his eyes. "Stop it.

"She wasn't very nice to me, kept giving me odd looks. That would explain it. She thought I was mucking up her little vision."

"She's not like that usually. Don't worry about it." Al took a long sip of tea. "Um, listen, I know it's too late for you to go back tonight, and…"

"Just point me to a spare bedroom and I'll be fine." Delyth put her hand on Al's. "Yes, you were wonderful, stupendous, I devoted four whole pages of my diary to your skills, but the spare bedroom will be fine."

* * *

For the next two days Al continued cleaning Grimmauld until it was back in livable shape; he'd even allowed his Mum and Lily to come over and help clean, part of what he considered his penance for being gone so long. His mum was fairly well behaved until they took a break and then she had laid into him, letting him know that she was so worried about him, that she'd written the Doyles and had suggested that Maeve write him. Al finally told Lily and his mum about the conversation he'd had with the Doyles, and they agreed with the advice, causing a break in the pointed lectures.

Things had quieted down and then the post came, disrupting everything. The newest issue of _Celebrity Wizard Weekly_ had arrived, and Lily tossed it on the table.

"You're on the bloody cover again, Al."

Al looked up from his sandwich and grabbed the magazine. "Bloody hell." The cover showed Al and Delyth, and from the picture it was obvious that the boy taking the invitations at the wedding had sold his picture to the magazine. The headline read "Potter Changes Hair, Life for Mystery Woman." Al tossed the magazine back onto the table, and Lily snatched it up.

"Let's see what they got wrong this time." Lily flipped through until she found the article. After scanning the text, she looked up at Al. "Ok, they say Delis…"

"Delyth." Al corrected his sister.

"Delyth." Lily looked at him and shook her head. "They say Delyth is the older Welsh woman who is helping Albus Potter forget his grief. Is that true? Is she older than you?"

"No idea." Al shrugged. "But she is Welsh. Just ignore them, and when they don't see her for a while they'll forget about her and try to link me with some new actress or something."

"That's not very nice, Albus." Ginny looked over to her son. "You need to write her, I'm sure she has to deal with the press now."

"I will. I'll send her a note and have Florence Coswock do something nice for her. She's just a friend, Mum."

Lily and Ginny looked at each other and didn't say a word. 

For the next six months Al threw himself into work. His appearance at the wedding with Delyth, not to mention his new haircut and clean-shaven appearance made him a hot commodity in the film industry, especially as he had been out of the public eye for a while, and he got a starring role in a dramatic movie. He'd done well, immersing himself into the character, and the director said that the work was some of Al's best. Things had resumed into normal, the new normal for Al, the quiet, lonely normal. He had done well when he was very busy, but in the quiet times he found himself thinking of Erin. He still missed her, and out of the blue little things would happen that would remind him of her. Sometimes the sadness would be fleeting, but on other days it would linger about him and it felt as if he was walking though fog for the entire day. More and more, however, his thoughts kept turning to Delyth.

Once shooting had finally wrapped Al found himself at Grimmauld with nothing to do; there were no appointments scheduled, no auditions, no press, nothing from Florence. After making a small breakfast and turning on some music Al sat in his library, reading one of the Muggle books that he'd discovered in his godfather's library ages ago and forgotten to return when he heard the Floo.

"Al? You home?"

Al walked to the fireplace and saw his cousin Rosie's head in the green flames. "Hi Rosie. What's up?"

"Mind if I pop over?"

"No, come on by."

A few minutes later Rosie stood in his fireplace by herself.

"Where's Walter?"

"With Simon at my in-laws. I'm meeting Mum later for lunch, but I had some free time." Rose sat down in one of the chairs by the fireplace. "Al, I need to tell you something."

"What'd you see this time, Rosie? I'm going to be Minister of Magic instead of your dad?"

She shook her head, and Al's joke fell flat. "No, that's not it. Al, you've been gone so I haven't had a chance to apologize. That, and, well, yes, I did see something else."

"Apologize for what?"

Rose bit her bottom lip slightly. "I was rude to your date at Mione and Scorpius' wedding. I hadn't told you because, well, um, I, I had a vision a long time ago of you and Paige. And I didn't say anything the first time you told me about Erin. Do you remember showing me her picture at The Burrow?"

Al's brow furrowed deeply. "Yes. You said when you saw Erin's picture you felt sadness."

"It was more than that, Al. I saw her funeral. And I saw you next to the grave. I told myself that I don't always get things right, that its possibilities, and I hoped that things would change. I really thought they would, but when I heard…" Rosie put her head down, and after a long pause she looked up at Al. "And Paige, I did have one vision with you and Paige, together at a movie. I thought…"

"Was Hugo in the vision, too?" Al was irritated. "And Gin Boyd?'

"Yes." Rosie nodded. "I thought…"

"You just saw something that meant nothing, Rose. It wasn't a date; they just wanted to get me out of the house. There's nothing there. You saw something and then tried to make it fit." Al rubbed the stubble on his chin. "Merlin, Rosie. How long have you known all this?"

Rose's voice was quiet. "A while. When you brought your date to the wedding, I thought…well, you can guess."

"That I was screwing up your vision? Damn, Rose. The world doesn't revolve around your visions." Al stood up and walked to the fireplace, putting his hands on the rough bricks. He turned to her. "Possibilities. Possibilities, Rosie. And her name's Delyth."

"And that's another reason I'm here today, Al. I had one this morning when I was feeding Walter."

"And?" Al held up his hands.

"You were in bed, asleep. Two little girls jumped on the bed, waking you up. They told you to hurry up, that Mummy had fixed breakfast. You tickled them and they ran away. Al, you were happy, really happy. That was it, it ended there. Al, I don't know who or when, I just know that someday you will be happy again."

Al sat back down and put his hands together, fingers across his lips. He was quiet for a long time and then finally looked over to Rose. "Thank you."

* * *

Al shifted his weight from side to side as he stood in front of the door. He'd walked up to the door once, turned around and gone to a nearby pub and sat at the bar for a good half hour before working up the courage to head back. Now he lifted his hand to knock on the door, hesitated, and then knocked quickly.

Delyth opened the door wearing a white shirt with a nametag, a black skirt and knee-high black leather boots. "I know I'm late I'll…oh. Al!"

"Hi. Late for something?"

Delyth smoothed her bangs back from her eyes. "Work, actually."

"The railroad makes you work on Saturday?" Al scratched his head. "That's horrible."

"No, got a second job at a restaurant. Extra Galleons." Delyth shook her head. "So…what're you doing here?"

"What, I can't stop by to say hello?" Al smiled. "Actually, more to it than that."

"That's great. I'm sure it's amazing, but I'm late. You can come to the restaurant. Hang on, I'll get my coat." Delyth walked away from the door, grabbed a black coat from the rack and stepped out of her flat, locking the door behind her. "Come on, it's easier just to walk there. Floo is only for customers, anyway."

As they walked down the stairs and out into the street Al watched Delyth pull her hair from out of her coat and push it over the collar. "So I was sitting at home reading and…"

"You film stars lead exciting lives, has anyone ever told you that?" Delyth smiled at him over her shoulder. "Sorry, go on."

Al chuckled. "Right. Anyway, I was thinking that my life is pretty boring right now. My next film doesn't start until a few months, and I haven't seen any movies lately, you know, to see what else is going on, and I thought, well, if you weren't…"

Several girlish shrieks filled the air and suddenly Al and Delyth were surrounded by teenage girls. As the usual "I can't believe its Albus Potter" type things went on Delyth pointed to a restaurant and walked away, leaving Al to the mercies of his teenage fans. 

Several autographs and photos later Al entered the restaurant where an elderly witch showed him to a booth. The restaurant was not one of the nicer ones that Al had been in; frankly it was a bit shabby and run down. When a blonde witch wearing the same white shirt, skirt and boots combination came over and handed Al a menu and took his order for a glass of wine Al noticed that there were several large grease stains on the menu. Al shook his head, as Hannah Longbottom would never have put up with such negligence. He looked around the restaurant but couldn't see Delyth, so he sat and waited.

After a few minutes Delyth came out of a door towards the back of the room, near the bar, and instead of heading over to him he watched her wait on a pair of wizards on the other side of the dining room. Al tried to wave at her, but she didn't see him. He was about to go over there when the waitress showed up, sat his wine on the table and looked ready to take his order. Al looked at her as if she'd just asked him to recite the entire History of Magic text.

"Sorry, what?"

"Your order, sir?" She held a pad and a quill in front of her. "Do you need another minute?"

"Actually, I want to speak with Delyth. Can you have her come over?"

The blonde witch rolled her eyes and headed over to Delyth, pointed in Al's direction, and disappeared through the door by the bar. Delyth walked over briskly to Al.

"What is it? I'm working. Can it wait? I won't be that long."

"Just sit down for a minute, please?" Al spun his wineglass slightly. "Please?"

Delyth sat down quickly. "Ok. You were asking me something before you got attacked. If I'm not?

Al took a deep breath. "I was going to say if you weren't busy I'd like to know if you would want to go see a movie with me. Or a play. Doesn't matter. Would you like to…"

"Delyth? What are you doing?" An overweight, balding wizard stood at the end of the table. "I don't pay you to chat with customers; I pay you to serve food and drinks."

Delyth looked at the wizard and then back to Al. "What were you saying?"

Al noticed that while the wizard looked angry, Delyth had a devilish smile on her face. "I want to know if you would like to go on a date with me sometime."

Delyth's smile was impossible to miss. "Yes. Yes, I would. I think now sounds wonderful." She looked up to the angry wizard. "By the way, Frank, I quit." 

After leaving the Muggle cinema Al decided that he didn't want the evening to end just yet. As they walked through the Muggle section of town Delyth spotted a place that didn't look bad, so they walked in and followed their waitress to a booth. As Delyth and Al sat in the all-night coffee shop Delyth spun her nametag on the table.

"You know, I'm not going to miss that job. I was probably going to be sacked soon anyway; I've been late too many times. Those people were horrible. I just wish you would have let me change before we went to the movie."

Al smiled slightly, a crooked little smile that his family would have recognized instantly, the one that told them that he was up to something. "I like the outfit. Especially the skirt. Boots are good too, though."

"So you want me to get rid of the shirt? Fine." Delyth unbuttoned the top button and started towards the next one until Al put his hands on hers to stop the impromptu striptease.

"You'll get us arrested. The shirt's ok." After she'd removed her hands from her shirt Al leaned back into the booth. "I'm sorry about the job, really. You didn't need to quit right that moment, you know."

"No, I didn't. But that was fun. I've dreamt of doing that." She pulled her hair behind her head and let it fall. "So, Mr. Potter, I know a lot about you. I'm sure that half of it isn't true, though. Oh, by the way, my mum wants to thank you and James for the picture. She's the envy of her knitting group."

"Good to know, she's very welcome." Al was quiet for a while. He added another sugar to his coffee and stirred it noisily. "So Delyth, what about you? I know next to nothing about you."

"Well, I am the mysterious woman from the magazine, can't go and ruin all my surprises." She took a sip of coffee. "That's bloody awful; don't know how you drink the stuff. Ok, let's run down all of the things that wonderfully horrid magazine that I've subscribed to for years got right. I am older than you, by seven years, you baby. Let's see, I am Welsh. I'm a woman. So far they're right. As for the rest?"

Al cocked his head. "What about the rest?"

"Well, I've only been arrested once and that wasn't my fault. I'd had too much to drink and how was I to know that was a coat closet and not the loo? The doors were very similar and the signage was awful. Clearly not my fault. As for the rest it's boring."

Al shook his head. "Not to me."

"Well you're the first to think so, then. Maybe I'll save that for next time. A girl's got to have her secrets, you know." 

It was a very clear, windy morning when Al knocked on the door of Colony House. He'd thought about using the Floo, but it was just habit to use the Muggle way at Colony House. Melody Boyd opened the door wearing one of Professor Muggle's old jumpers.

"Al! Come in, don't want you to blow away."

After the usual greetings Al sat in Hank's office with Melody. While they made tea Melody explained that Hank was over at Hogwarts with Neville and the girls were all over at Mione and Scorpius' place. She had been working on a piece for _Witch Weekly_ and welcomed his visit, as the article wasn't going well. Teacups in hand they headed over to the office. Al felt the normal wave of comfort flow through his body as he sank into the familiar deep leather armchair next to his godfather's desk.

"So Al, what brings you by this morning?" Melody looked at Al over her glasses. "The real reason."

"I need some advice." Al took a deep breath. "I was hoping to talk to you and Professor Muggle, but you can fill him in. Um, I've been seeing someone and, ah, shit. I don't know if I should or not."

Melody pulled her graying hair behind her ear and leaned forward. "Al, it's ok. You're thinking about Erin, right?"

Al nodded. "I mean, well, I spoke to Maeve and Brendan about it before, and they told me it was ok to move on. But it doesn't feel right. I feel like I'm cheating on her."

"Oh sweetie, you're not cheating on her. You're living your life. You can't expect to…she wouldn't want that. Not at all. I miss her too, Al. She was a special woman. But Al, she's been gone for a while now, and as horrible as it sounds you need to move on with your life. Just because you've met someone it doesn't mean you'll forget her. She'll always be a part of you. Hank always says that the people we love never really leave us, and he's right. She'll never be gone, and just because you've met someone new it doesn't mean that you loved her any less or you're doing anything to harm her memory. Life goes on, Albus. We go on. If wonderful things happen with someone new it doesn't make the things that happened in the past any less real or good or, or, or anything. They are what they are. You can't live in the past, Albus. Oh Al."

Melody leaned forward and took Al's hands in hers. The two of them sat there for a while, silent. Finally Al nodded and took several deep breaths.

"I'm sure you can guess who I'm talking about. Right?"

Melody smiled. "Is it the Welsh girl you took to the wedding? She seemed very lively."

Al laughed. "That's an understatement." He looked over to the pictures on the wall and watched his teenage self stand with HR next to Professor Muggle's old car and wave. He nodded towards the picture. "Was that the day that HR and I…"

Melody took her hands away from Albus' and leaned back to look at the picture. "Yes, the day you two took the car and went riding around the village without telling anyone. Only reason you two finally stopped was that you ran out of petrol. You're lucky I never told your mum." She looked at the photo for a while, and then turned back to Albus. "That's what we've missed, Al. Seeing you happy like that."

Al nodded. "Me too." He reached up to the desk to get his teacup and in doing so noticed the Celtic knot tattoo shine brighter than ever before.


	7. Act II

Chapter 7: Act Two

_March 2031_

Al watched as Delyth moved about the dining room, setting out the silverware and straightening the place settings. He moved from the doorway, where he was leaning on the doorframe and walked over to the table.

"It looks fine, don't worry. It's just my friends. We aren't having dinner with the Minister of Magic."

Delyth straightened a fork and looked at him sideways. "Yes, I know, but it's the first time I'll be meeting them. I want to make a good impression." She cocked her head slightly and sighed. "And dispel those rumors in the magazines."

"Some of those are pretty good, you know. I really like the one where you've given me a cursed tattoo on the back of my neck that makes me do your bidding."

"I like that one, too. Wonder if it would work?" She walked over and put her hand on Al's neck, moving his shirt collar out of the way and put her finger on the base of his neck. "I'm thinking right there."

Al's eyes became unfocused, he looked straight ahead and said "Yes Mistress Delyth, what is your command" in a flat monotone.

"I command that you fix me a nice cuppa.""

Al held his hands straight out in front of him like he'd seen on the old Muggle horror movies at his godfather's house and in a stiff-legged fashion walked out of the room.

Delyth shook her head. "Brilliant! Oh you are such an actor! Bravo."

Will and Penny were the first to arrive, by Floo of course, and Al welcomed them noisily into Grimmauld. After introducing Delyth and fixing a drink for the two of them Al heard a knock on the door. Al and Will looked at each other, as they were expecting everyone to arrive by Floo. Al went to the door, and after opening it saw Jeff and a woman standing outside. After Al greeted and invited the couple in Jeff introduced Al to Valerie.

"Very nice to meet you, Valerie." Al shook her hand and looked to Jeff. "Will and Penny are in the library. Come on in. Can I get you two something to drink?"

Jeff thought a butterbeer would be fine, but when Al heard Valerie's order he was stumped. "A Cosmo? I'm not sure what that is…maybe Delyth knows."

Delyth was standing next to Penny when they entered, and after the introductions were made Al asked Delyth if she knew what a Cosmo was.

"Of course. Don't know if you have the ingredients here, though. Back in a second."

As Delyth left the room everyone else took a seat. Valerie looked apologetically at Jeff and then to Al.

"I'm sorry; I didn't know this would be one of those parties." She smiled, and then her face fell. "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way, those. It sounds so awful. I…"

"She thought it was a Muggle dinner party." Jeff put his hand on her arm. "Don't worry; I thought I mentioned that?"

"Uh, Jeff, mate, aren't you breaking a rule?" Will squinted at his old roommate. "Aren't you supposed to be married before you tell her you're a wizard?"

Jeff looked embarrassed. "I did. Um, we are. I'm sorry I couldn't invite you, it was a Muggle ceremony. You know how my parents are."

Al nodded. Jeff's parents were accepting of his being a wizard, but they didn't like having any connections with the wizarding world at all. The one time that he, Will and Hadley had gone over to Jeff's house was horrible; his parents watched them like a hawk and it was one of the most uncomfortable visits he'd ever had at someone's house. Jeff's mum even sat in the living room while they watched TV. After a while they'd forgotten Jeff's mum was in there when Hadley said something about Quidditch and that set her off. The boys had to listen to a rant about how magic things were all well and good when they were at Hogwarts but she wasn't going to have any of that kind of talk in her house. For the rest of the evening the boys were quiet, and only when they went to bed could they talk. Jeff spent almost the whole night apologizing, but the rest of them understood.

"Al, we don't have any of the ingredients. I'm just going to pop over to the off-license, back in a moment." Delyth smiled at everyone and before Al or Jeff could protest that she didn't need to go she was out the front door.

Al expected it instantly, but instead they chatted about some stupid topic, and it was obvious to Al that nobody wanted to bring it up. Finally he couldn't stand it. "Ok, out with it then, fire away. I know you lot have been dying to know."

Will and Jeff seemed uncomfortable and looked away, and everyone was quiet until Penny broke the silence. "Merlin's pants, its Al, you idiots." She smiled over at Al. "Come on, fill us in."

Al recounted how he'd met Delyth, how they'd just started out as friends but things had changed and most importantly that she genuinely cared for Al because he's Al, not Albus Severus Potter or Al Potter, actor.

"I get it, Al." Penny smiled slightly at him. "Remember the first time I met you? Took me a while to realize you're just a regular idiot."

"Thanks, Pen." Al took a drink of his butterbeer, trying to figure out how to explain it. "It's more than that, though. She makes me feel alive again. Plus, shit, I…it's hard to explain. I mean, ok, here. You know why she's here? Besides the obvious? After we started really seeing each other her Mum kind of lost it. First time I met Delyth she asked for an autographed picture of James for her mum 'cause she's a big a Puddlemere supporter. That was ok, but then when we started dating each other her mum started selling interviews to the press, saying how I'd come in and swept Delyth off her feet, that I was taking advantage of her, all sorts of crap like that. Bunch of lies, but her mum loved the fact that she was famous for being the mum of the woman dating me. Delyth lost it, had a massive row with her mum, and turned up on my doorstep one day a complete mess. Kept apologizing, and it took me a good two days to get her to really calm down. "

"Al, you don't have to…"

"No, Will, I think I do. I know everyone was worried about me, and to be honest I was worried about me after Erin died. I spent a lot of time angry at the world, and when the anger went away I was just numb. Everything here seemed ruined, nothing made me happy. That's why I left; I just couldn't deal with things anymore. And this house, everything reminded me of her. So I left, went anywhere and everywhere, just drifted. When I ended up in Wales and did that play it was the first thing that made me feel alive again, something that I felt good about. And when I stopped into that pub, and Delyth…"

Al grew quiet, and Penny was about to say something when they heard the front door open; everyone stopped talking, as they expected to see Delyth. Instead of seeing just Delyth, though, two people stood in the entrance to the living room.

"I found him outside. Can I keep him, Al? I promise I'll walk him every day." Delyth smiled as she stood next to Brian Hadley. "Says he's a friend of yours, and I didn't believe him until he told me how much you snore. So either he's really your old Hogwarts roommate or you had an interesting phase of your life you've never told me about."

As Hadley entered, looking embarrassed, Al relaxed. He knew that if anyone would understand it would be his friends, especially Penny. Hadley apologized for being late, but Delyth waved him off and handed him a drink. Moments later she handed Valerie her Cosmo and they sat around and recounted stories for Delyth, as Al's friends took particular relish recounting particularly embarrassing stories about him. Penny took a special joy in describing her and Al's "relationship" and it was a sign of their friendship that Will didn't hold any hard feelings towards Al. Al shook his head as Will said that Al had made things easier as he couldn't possibly be a worse boyfriend to Penny than Al was.

Al sat on the sofa and Delyth sat next to him, leaning into him while with one leg tucked underneath her. When Al looked at her he still couldn't believe his luck. There she sat, black boots and jeans, one of Al's button down shirts on with the buttons daringly undone at the top and tastefully discreet jewelry. She was like a photo shoot from a magazine and she really hadn't tried, as she'd thrown her clothes and jewelry on at the last minute. Instead of listening to his friends talk Al found himself transfixed by her, as he did at least twice a day. Earlier it had been while she was cleaning, her hair kept in place with an old bandana, one of Al's ratty sweatshirts and a pair of workout shorts; Al was supposed to be helping her clean but he stood with the dust rag in his hand for at least a few minutes watching her instead. She was actively visiting with his friends, not in some stilted polite way; she genuinely got on well with his friends. The only thing that seemed odd to Al was that she wasn't drinking wine like she usually did, she was drinking something clear.

Al leaned over close to her and whispered "What are you drinking?"

"Sparkly water. Don't want to be a raging lush in front of your friends."

"You're fine. Let me get you a glass of wine." Al went to get up, but Delyth put her hand on him.

"Don't Al. It's fine."

He acquiesced, but it didn't seem like her for some reason. Al shrugged it off; probably right, just being polite, first impressions, all of that. He felt her hand slide into his and smiled.

* * *

It was very early the next morning when Will and Penny left, the last of the dinner party to exit Grimmauld Place. After Will and Penny took the Floo Al sat down on a chair and Delyth fell into the sofa. She lifted up one leg and Al knew what she wanted. He got up and started pulling off her boots.

"I told you not to worry; I told you they'd love you." Al struggled with a boot for a moment, and then it popped off and he let it fall to the ground. Delyth held up her other boot. "Kind of crazy about Jeff and Valerie, though. Keeping their wedding secret and all."

As the second boot came off Delyth pulled her legs up and sat cross-legged on the sofa. "Hmm…people keep secrets all the time. Usually they have their reasons."

Al sat down on the sofa and then slid into a prone position, his head on Delyth's lap. "Well, we've been through that, haven't we? No more secrets between us." Delyth didn't say anything and Al looked up to her. "Right?"

"Well…I may have, no, I do have a new one. See if you can figure it out."

"Hmmm..." Al closed his eyes. "Let's see…I've already ruled out that you used to be a man, asked you that on our second date, same night you asked me if I'd ever done anything forward with livestock. I'm guessing you get up in the middle of the night while I'm asleep and drink yourself silly, put on your WUMP and sing Muggle songs, but you do it in the nude. Am I close?"

She laughed nervously. "Not even close. Care to try door number two?"

"You're having a torrid affair with James. And Alice. And there are pictures."

That caused Delyth to laugh heartily. "Oh Merlin, you do have an active imagination. Ew, by the way, that's your brother. And I like blonde girls. Usually. Next?"

"Blonde girls, really. Have to remember that. Ok, I'm out of ideas except your preggers." When Delyth didn't have a snappy comeback Al sat up quickly. "Fucking hell, that's it. You're pregnant?"

Delyth nodded, and her face couldn't hide her nervousness. "Obviously we didn't plan this. Al, I…I wasn't sure how to tell you, with…Al tell me what you're thinking."

Al's head swam. "A father? Holy shit."

"That's it, holy shit? Al, come on. There's got to be more going on in your head right now than that." Delyth was worried now, and she reached out to Al, putting her hand on his face. "Albus, tell me what you're thinking, I need to know."

"I'm going to be a father. It's hard to wrap by brain around it right now. Wow."

"But are you happy about it?" Delyth bit her bottom lip and took her hand away from Al's face. "Tell me."

Al looked down and shook his head. Everything swirled together, the plans that he and Erin had made that disappeared years ago, all of his 'wilderness days' as his godfather Hank called them, his talk with the Doyles, but more than anything else the overwhelming feeling of how Delyth made him feel, how his happiness seemed to swirl about and fill him up, how it had changed everything, how Delyth had changed everything, how she had changed him. He glanced down and saw the Celtic knot tattoo shine brightly and he began laughing. When he saw the confused look on Delyth's face he laughed again, and then took her face in his hands and kissed her. "Happy? Merlin, yes. It's going to be a girl."

As happy tears began to flow down Delyth's freckled cheeks she laughed. "Rose?"

"Yeah, Rosie. She said we'll have two girls."

Delyth moved close to Al and put her head against his chest. Al wrapped his arms around her, and she looked up at him. "Let's see how this one goes first, shall we?"

* * *

The next day was Sunday, and as usual all of the extended Weasley clan was invited to dinner at The Burrow. Al didn't know how his gran did it; after all, she was in her eighties now, but it wasn't that bad, as Lily did most of the cooking anymore. Lily's little restaurant was doing well, and Al had suspicions that she tried out new recipes on all of her family before introducing it to her restaurant, but he didn't mind. Al sat on the bed and watched Delyth pick out her clothes, something that he never got tired of.

Delyth stood in her bra and knickers and held up a shirt to her chest. "What do you think, Al? I think this one says 'Hey I got knocked up because I'm a woman of loose morals' but this one says 'now that I'm pregnant I've given up any hope of being fashionable.' So which one?" She switched the shirts back and forth, and when Al laughed she threw both of them back into the closet. "I'll pick those up later. Maybe. Hmm…how about this one?"

She held up one of Al's shirts, a tattersall button down that she had stolen from Al's closet almost immediately after moving in. This was playing dirty pool, Al thought, because she knew it was his favorite. "That one. It says you are definitely sleeping with me because Mum bought it for me as a Christmas present. Plus it makes your tits look great."

Delyth took it off the hangar and put it on immediately. "Well that's good to know. Important to tell your family our big news while having stonking great tits. Might have to tell the men in your family a second time you know, because of, well, these." She pointed to her breasts and Al laughed. "Oh you laugh now, Al, but guess what? They're going to get bigger, and so will this." Delyth turned around and wiggled her arse at him, and Al leaned over and smacked it.

"You are absolutely horrible. Our daughter is going to be a tart."

Delyth put her hand on her stomach and looked down. "Don't you listen to Daddy, he's an actor and they're overly concerned with appearances." She walked over to her wardrobe, pulled out a pair of jeans and slid them on, shaking her head. "Soon these will be a distant memory. Al, come on, we don't want to be late, not today."

When Al and Delyth arrived at The Burrow only Melody and Hank had arrived, nobody else had made it yet. Al knew that even though his Gran said to come at eleven nobody would arrive that early, usually everybody was somewhat late, and the current date was no exception. Well, Lily would be over soon to help with the cooking, HR and Artie would follow later, but that was it. In a way, Al was happy that nobody else was there, as it was easy to just have a small group so he could calm his nerves somewhat. It wasn't a bad case of the nerves, more like excitement, and even though he was worried about his Gran's reaction as he and Delyth weren't married, he couldn't wait to tell people, especially Rosie.

As Delyth and Melody helped his Gran in the kitchen Al noticed that his Grandpa Arthur was asleep in his chair, so when Hank nodded towards the door Al didn't feel bad. They headed out to Arthur's shed, one of Al's favorite places in the world. When Hank opened the door Al realized suddenly how old his grandparents actually were, as the shed was full of dust and cobwebs. He took out his wand and removed the cobwebs and most of the dust while his godfather leaned against the old Anglia and started looking in his jacket for something, and when Al saw what Hank was doing he laughed. Once he'd moved to the Anglia and leaned up against it he made a small fire appear from the end of his wand and tilted it towards Hank.

"Al, how did you…"

"Come on, Hank. World's worst kept secret. I'll take one from your emergency stash today, actually."

Hank looked at his godson and shook his head. After finding his little magical pouch he pulled out two cigarettes, handed one to Al and lit his cigarette of the end of Al's wand. "So when the hell did you start smoking?"

Al laughed. "I don't, usually. You never really counted them, did you? HR and I used to sneak them every now and then, usually after we pinched one of your bottles of bourbon. We were of age, well, I was, don't freak out. Besides that was years ago. I just need to calm my nerves a bit."

Hank looked at Al and smiled slightly, but didn't say anything. Instead he looked at Arthur's collection of Muggle items and waited.

Al exhaled and laughed again. "Just waiting for me to say something else, aren't you? We know your tricks."

"Fuck. Am I that predictable?" Hank took off his glasses and put them on top of his bald head. "Fine, Al. Why are you nervous today? Telling us that you're getting married?"

Al coughed. "Uh, no actually. Kind of skipped that step."

Hank shook his head. "We all know that Delyth's moved in with you. I can tell you Molly and Arthur had a few discussions on that one, and your Mum wasn't the happiest, but I figured she wouldn't say anything because you're happy." Hank looked at Al, and watched Al shake his head slightly. "Oh shit, I'm not sure what your Gran's going to say about that. And Ginny? Wow. Wait, this is what I think, isn't it? Delyth's pregnant?"

"Yeah, she is." Al was beaming as he looked over to his godfather. "You know, if you would have told me this would have happened a couple of years ago I would have told you that you were mental. She just…I mean…I loved Erin, but this is different. I don't know if I could appreciate Delyth the way I do if it hadn't been for Erin."

Hank nodded. "I understand, Al. I do. Melody and I will be married twenty-five years in August, and I still don't know how I got so lucky. I've seen the way you look at her, Al. It's obvious. You know your mother loves her. She says that since you're with her she's got her Albus back. I think she finally realized it when Delyth stood up to her mother, gave her that ultimatum about the press. When that story appeared in the papers and Delyth…well, that told Ginny everything she needed to know. Your sister, though, she's…well, she's Lily."

"Oh yeah, that she is. Artie likes her, though, that has to count for something."

"Yes, Al, it does. You can't fool the little ones, they see right through all the bullshit.

* * *

Al couldn't look at his godfather all through dinner, which was the typically raucous Weasley affair, complete with joking insults, questionable table manners and reprimands from his Granny Weasley. The highlight of the event was the first bit of uncontrollable magic from Dorrie Lupin; when Victoire told her that she couldn't have any pudding if she didn't finish her vegetables a few seconds after that everybody's vegetables vanished from their plates and ended up on Ron's plate. While Victoire was obviously irritated with her daughter everyone else was quite pleased, and it was obvious from Dorrie's perspective that it was perfectly fine as she told her mother that she could have pudding because there were no vegetables on her plate. George levitated a pudding over to Dorrie, saying that even if she was only five that was a nice bit of magic. Walter, Rosie's son started complaining that if Dorrie got to do magic then he should be allowed, and it was only after his father Simon gave him a stern look did Walter stop complaining.

Once it was officially time for pudding Al sat nervously next to Delyth when he felt a tug on his sleeve. Looking down he saw Artie, picked his nephew up and put him on his lap. "What's up, squirt?"

"Can you make the dragon spit fire, Uncle Al?"

"Arthur Boyd!" Lily looked across the table at her son. "What did we talk about this morning…"

"It's ok, Lils." Al smiled at his nephew. "Ok, Artie, touch his tail."

Artie put out a stubby finger and pressed it on Al's forearm while Al thought about the dragon. Soon the tattoo moved, the dragon seemed to writhe around and eventually the illusion of fire shot through the rest of Al's arm and then subsided.

"I want one too!" Artie looked over to his mother, but frowned when he saw her face.

"Artie, do you like it when the little kids copy what you do when you play with your dragons and Auror toys?" Delyth leaned across Al and looked at the little red-headed boy. "Remember what you said the last time, that it wasn't fair that they were doing what you were? Why don't you let your Uncle Al be the one who has the tattoos? You'll think of something cooler that nobody else has."

Artie was silent for a while. "I didn't like it when Walter copied me."

"You don't want your Uncle Al to feel that way, do you?" Delyth shook her hand slightly at Al's impending protest and put her hand on his leg under the table. "Besides, Artie, then you wouldn't get to show off your freckles."

"Why don't you go find your toys, Artie?" HR smiled at Delyth.

That seemed to do the trick, as Artie climbed off Al's lap and went to find his toys.

"Thank you, Delyth. I'm glad someone doesn't keep encouraging him. I caught him last week trying to draw tattoos on his arms." Lily sighed. "Al, you're not the best influence, you know."

"I'm a perfectly good role model." Al felt somewhat angry, especially knowing what he did about Delyth. "I think I'll be a great father."

"Yes, Albus, you will, dear." Molly took a sip of tea.

"Yes, I will, Gran. Especially in about nine months."

Al's comment led to a general uproar about the table, as everyone started asking questions. Al sat there as everyone spoke to him, but he just smiled, especially at Rosie. Delyth was fielding questions as best she could, but finally Al held up his hand.

"Ok, everybody stop. Obviously this was a surprise for us, and Delyth and I are still kind of in shock, but we're very happy about this." It was at this point that Al realized that his mum hadn't said a word. "Mum?"

"Al, I'm very happy for you and Delyth. But tell me, when are you getting married?"

That took Al by surprise, as to be honest he hadn't even thought about that yet. As he was still trying to wrap his brain around the fact that he was going to be a father the idea of marriage hadn't even come up. "I, uh, we, just found out last night, and, um…"

"Albus Severus Potter." Ginny shook her head. "Your sister runs off and gets married without telling anyone, now you're having a baby and you aren't married. James!"

James' head swung over to his mum, over to Alice, and then back his mum. "What! I didn't do anything!"

"Since your brother and sister can't seem to do things in the right order, I expect…"

"Not now, Ginny." Harry put his hand on his wife's arm. "Focus on what's important. Remember?"

Ginny looked at Harry, and Al knew they would have one of their famous 'discussions' later that night. It was the movement out of the corner of his eye that got Al's attention, though. His gran was walking towards them, and when she got to Delyth she held out her arms. Delyth gave her a hug, and Molly patted her on the back several times.

"I'm so happy for the two of you, dear." Molly leaned in close to Delyth, and whispered "Don't worry about Ginny, she just worries about Al. I'm sure you two will do what's right for the both of you and the baby."

* * *

When Al and Delyth got back to Grimmauld Place that night both of them were exhausted. After walking directly upstairs to the bedroom both of them fell onto the bed as soon as possible. Al lifted up his arm and Delyth put her head on his chest.

"What do you think, Al? About what your mum said." Delyth's voice was worried. "Do…"

"It won't change anything. Well, your last name, that's really about it."

Delyth sat up and pulled her hair back from her face. "I understand if…you know I'm not trying to replace…"

Al put his hand on her. "Stop it. We both know that. I just…it would be a media frenzy. And your mum…"

"Wouldn't be involved. Not after what she's done. Al, I know I'm…I sent an owl to your Aunt Hermione the other day. About a job."

Al sat up quickly. "Why'd you do that?"

"I'm not a complete homebody, you know. I'll admit, it has been wonderful, not worrying about rent or having to put up with the usual work crap, but I can't just lounge around here. I need something to do."

"You have something to do, you're pregnant."

"You don't get it, Al. I can't…this is probably what your mum warned you about, some slag trying to get up the duff with your baby so she'd be set for life."

Al shook his head. "You are not a slag, and it's different than…"

"Then let me contribute something." Delyth fell back on the bed. "Merlin, I don't care if we don't have three Gnuts between us. Ok, I do care, but you know what I mean."

"So what did Hermione say?"

"I'm supposed to meet her at her office on Monday and bring my CV. I'll probably just be a clerk again, but it's better than nothing."

Al sighed deeply. "Makes sense, I guess. What's going to happen if I get that role we talked about the other day? The shoot is in Australia."

"You pop back and forth when you can. I'm sure that since everybody knows I'm pregnant now I won't lack for company."

Al laughed. "Oh, you have no idea. I thought Lily was going to hex everyone. I probably should tidy up the spare bedroom for Gran. You know she moved in with Rosie when Nigel was born."

"And your cousin's boys have turned out just fine. Well, I am worried about Walter. I know he's five, but he's nasty to his little brother sometimes."

"They're boys, Delyth. We won't have to worry about that." Al looked at her, how her nose crinkled as he knew she was thinking of something. "What is it? I know you're up to something."

"Just thinking of names, that's all."

"Right." Names, that made it even more real to Al, he would help pick out his daughter's name. "Well, can't have everyone confused on her last name. I guess we should get married, then."

"You are a hopeless romantic. I'm swept off my feet by your eloquence. It's obvious you've learned so much from your movies." Delyth settled back down on the bed and put her head in Al's lap. "You know we don't do it properly your mum will never forgive you."

"Lils and HR still have us beat. So how's tomorrow sound to you?"

"No, Al, properly. I don't want any big diamond, just a plain gold band, and I think I'll stop over to your mum's tomorrow for tea."

"Hmmm…" Al played with Delyth's hair. "If we're going all proper, then, we're going to do it right."

"Merlin's pants. You still haven't asked me."

Al laughed. "Delyth Elizabeth Lewis, will you…"

"Yes. Now, pop down to the kitchen. I need some biscuits. The chocolate ones."

* * *

As the next two months went by Al completely disregarded Delyth's request, as he knew she would never ask for it, and bought her a very sizeable diamond ring. He knew her well enough that he did buy a very plain gold band for the wedding ring. It was on the way back from Fiona's Filigree, with the rings in his pocket that he stopped by his agent's office. After filling in Florence, and finally convincing her that she could stop hugging and doting on him, they decided to Floo Melody Boyd. Melody and Florence crafted the announcement, and after sending off the note to _The Prophet_ Melody took Al out to lunch.

Al shouldn't have been nervous, but he was as they sat in The Leaky. As usual Alice gave Al his favorite out-of-the-way booth.

"So, Al, are you ready for everything? You know the press is going to be all over this. I'm not too unhappy, though, as _Witch Weekly_ will have a nice bump in sales. Oh, and for you and Delyth, I'm so sorry. That came out quite rudely."

"Quite all right, Melody. I understand. Are you sure that Hank will be ok with…"

"Shush, of course. After managing Mione's wedding I think I can handle another. And your parent's place is too small, and Molly would try to do too much."

"But…"

"Enough, don't worry, Al. How's Delyth doing?"

"Very well, it's odd. No morning sickness, she's always hungry, has a ton of energy…nothing like Lily or Rosie."

"Every pregnancy is different, Al. With HR and Gin it was fairly easy, but with the twins? I should have known how much trouble they would have been, that was my first clue."

Al nodded, but something else was on his mind. He looked down as he went to pick up his pint and saw his Celtic knot tattoo shine.

"What's the big smile for, Al?" Melody put her glasses on the top of her head. "I've known you too long, come on, what is it?"

"Delyth and I took a little trip the other day. To Ireland."

"Oh Al…"

"It's ok, it is. She was really nervous, but Maeve and Brendan welcomed us in as if, well, just like they used to. I know I didn't need to do it, but I really felt like I had to. I never expected…Melody, they were happy for us. I don't know if it's the pregnancy or what, but Delyth broke down. I've never seen her cry like that, and then Brendan took me outside for a while and we looked at his roses. I couldn't say much, and he just put his arm around me and we just looked at the roses. I'm not sure how long we were out there, but Maeve came out and brought us in for tea. The minute I hit the door Delyth just hugged me. It was just going to be tea but we ended up spending the evening there, and after supper Maeve brought out the pictures. I didn't know what to think, looking at pictures of Erin, Delyth there…"

Melody covered her mouth with her hand. Al was looking at the table, so Melody quickly wiped away her tears.

"But it wasn't sad. Somehow it wasn't, and I think…it just wasn't sad." Al's smile returned. "And this was Delyth's idea, shocked the pants off of me, but, yeah. Rosie says it's a girl, and she hasn't been wrong yet."

"Well, she was right about the twins, and she was little." Melody cocked her head. "Al? What is it?"

"Delyth said she wanted to do something to honor Erin, because she obviously trained me correctly." Al chuckled. "Trained, honestly." He took another drink of his pint. "If Rosie's right, and it's a girl, we're going to name her Maeve."

Melody had been holding it in pretty well until then, but after Al told her what the baby's name would be she burst into tears.

"Albus Potter, what did you do to your godmother?" Hannah Longbottom stood at their table, two plates of food in her hands. She put the plates on the table, slid into the booth next to Melody and put an arm around her. "It's ok, Melody, you can tell me."

Melody took the napkin that Hannah offered and loudly blew her nose. "Oh Hannah, it's so…so sad and happy at the same time. He didn't do anything wrong. I just…"

"Delyth and I are getting married, Hannah."

"About bloody time, Al. Alice told me how you two are, shame not to. Today's on me, then. I'd set you up with firewhiskey but she's enough of a mess as it is."

Melody, as if on cue, blew her nose again. "Not funny. And I could use one…"

"No you don't." Hannah got up from the booth. "I helped take care of you after Mione and Scorpius' wedding, thank you very much. You're old and out of practice." Hannah leaned over and kissed Al on the top of his head. "You mum will be very happy."

* * *

Hermione Granger sat in her office and looked through the morning's mail. After reading the headline on the fourth magazine she called out for her assistant. "Ovelia, can you send Delyth Lewis to my office?"

As Ovelia left Hermione shook her head. She thought she was used to it by now, but this was low.

"Yes, Mrs. Weasley?" Delyth stood at the office door.

"Come in and close the door, Delyth."

Delyth closed the door and sat down in one of the chairs in front of Hermione's desk, but relocated to one of the comfortable chairs when Hermione motioned over there. Hermione sat down across from Delyth with a stack of magazines and _The Daily Prophet_ in her hands.

"Have you seen what they've been saying about you?" Hermione flung the magazines onto the table. "Honestly, I thought better of them."

Delyth sat back against her chair and let out a large sigh. "Oh. Yes, yes I have. My favorite is 'Tart With No Heart Snags A Potter.' I think I'll frame that one."

"You're not upset? What about the baby?"

"To be honest, Mrs. Weasley, I'm just glad it wasn't anything about my job. I was worried that I'd done something wrong."

Hermione shook her head. "Oh no, nothing of the sort. You've been doing wonderfully. Nigel said you've finally got the centaur files in decent shape. Can't tell you how long I've been on them for that." Hermione sat back and looked at Delyth, unaware that her eyebrow was raised, a sign that her husband would have recognized immediately to know she was up to something. "Delyth, you're a reader, aren't you?"

"Um, yes, Mrs. Weasley. Al and I both are."

"Oh stop that, when we're in here just call me Hermione. The reason I ask is, well, do you think you'd have been better prepared for things after school if you'd had some more education? Advanced education?"

"Yes, I do. If I can ask, what are we talking about?"

Hermione smiled and her eyes took on a somewhat manic look. "A wizarding university. Professor Muggle has told me about his university days when he was younger, and it's been a goal of mine." She looked over to Delyth, pregnant with Albus' baby; she was sure her decision was right. "How would you like to be the second official employee of the new wizarding university? You've obviously got the skills for organization, and Melody's told me how you've managed to put the wedding together. I heard you've even convinced Draco Malfoy to attend. Now, everything is still in the planning stages, and we can't do this while we're at work, obviously, but…oh, I'm doing that now, aren't I?"

The witches laughed, and Hermione watched as Delyth stopped laughing and looked very serious.

"I'm not doing this because you're marrying Al, Delyth. Well, partially, but you know how we are about family businesses. Besides that you're good at what you do. And I need someone who, um, understands how to deal with the family because George and Harry are doing the initial funding, but you didn't hear that from me. What do you think?"

"I'd love to, Hermione." Delyth held out her hand, and Hermione shook it.

* * *

Al was reading in the library, Muggle music up too loud as usual, when Delyth arrived home from the Ministry. She walked into the library and turned down the music.

"Oh, hey, how was the daily grind? Have fun alphabetizing house elf birth records?" Al put down his book and motioned for Delyth to join him.

Delyth sat down on his lap and Al pretended to be in pain. "Very funny, so believable. Well, Mr. Potter, I'm beginning to see why all of you Potters and Weasleys are so mental. I'm going to start a new job soon."

"Already? I thought it was working out well. Is Aunt Hermione being a pain? I know she's very demanding."

"No, you idiot. That's going great. You're looking at the second employee of the first wizarding university in Britain."

Al brushed Delyth's hair away from her face. "Merlin's pants. She's been talking about that for years. Well, that's good, because I got the role in Australia. How does a honeymoon in Brisbane sound to you? If you can take the time off, that is."

"Already taken care of." Delyth kissed Al. "Looks like things are looking up."

"Yes, they are, Delyth. Yes they are."


	8. Pink Feathers

**Chapter 8: Pink Feathers**

_2037_

The first day of September fell on a Tuesday and Albus Potter was nervous. He paced around his new, small office, rearranging pictures and generally did meaningless things to keep his mind off of his upcoming class. He had just moved his pictures to another spot on a shelf when he heard a knock at the door.

"Al, do you have a minute?" Hermione Weasley poked her head around the door.

"Merlin, yes, come on in." Al sat down quickly at his very clean and organized desk. "Are you sure about this?"

Hermione nodded her head and sat down in the chair opposite the desk. "Yes, Al, I'm sure. It's just for this year, you know, it's not permanent. Mike Greene is just on sabbatical; it's only for this year." She took a look at Al and laughed. "You've been in how many movies and plays? Teaching a beginning acting class is making you this nervous?"

Al ran his hand through his hair. "That's different, I have lines and marks, I know what I'm supposed to do. This? Merlin's pants."

"Just follow Mike's course materials, be yourself and don't worry. Remember your acting classes and go from there. It's not Hogwarts, Al. Your students aren't first years; just talk to them as you would a new actor or actress on one of your movies." Hermione stood up and smiled at Al. "You'll do just fine. Floo your godfather, I know he's looking forward to hearing about your first day here at Dumbledore University."

"Yeah, I'll definitely do that." Al sat back in his chair, put his head on the top of the headrest and looked at the ceiling. He didn't hear the door close, so he looked over to see his aunt still standing by the door. "Yes?"

"You do remember what else today is, don't you Al?" Hermione shook he head. "If you've forgotten…"

"No, I've remembered. Fifth wedding anniversary, can't forget that; I'd never live that one down." Al squinted at his aunt. "What are you and Delyth doing today?"

"We're booked solid, so don't get any grand, romantic ideas. Well, at least until after half four." Hermione raised her eyebrow and cocked her head at Al. "But you didn't hear that from me. Good luck, I know you'll do wonderfully."

Al walked slowly into the Arts building. He knew where the classroom was, as he'd done a dry run the day before, but it was different; this time he'd actually be standing in front of students. When he made it up the two flights of stairs and stood in front of the door he felt his hands shaking slightly. Hopefully it would be easier once he'd started in on the course particulars, the grading system, the course objectives, things like that. As he opened the door he tried to remember why the hell he'd agreed on filling in for Mike Greene.

The students were sitting at their desks when he entered the room and put down his tea and books on the table. The room was quiet as everyone seemed to be waiting for him to start, and after taking a deep breath he moved over in front of the desk and sat on the edge, which made him laugh quietly to himself; Al realized that he was copying Professor Muggle's techniques without initially realizing it.

"Ok, I'm sure you know who I am, but for those who don't my name is Albus Potter. I'll be filling in for Professor Greene while he's on sabbatical this year, and this class is Introduction to Acting. If you're in the wrong class now's the opportunity to leave." Al looked out over his students; nobody moved, so he took that to mean everyone was in the right classroom. "Right. So before we get started, let me tell you a little bit about myself. I became interested in acting when I was young, watching Muggle movies at my godfather's house. I attended an acting workshop in Ireland and from there began my acting career. Yes, I'm sure that being eaten by a giant hippogriff ranks high on every actor's resume, but I did my time in smaller movies and plays for quite a while." Al took a drink of tea and then took a deep breath. All of the faces of his students seemed to be nervous. He had to get rid of that right away. "Since we'll be working on a lot of things that may involve personal topics, why don't we get to know each other a little better? This is your opportunity to ask me anything."

Al saw a hand go up in the back, and he craned his neck slightly to see who was asking a question. "Yes, Miss…?"

"Rimbaud, Francine. Professor, um, Mister…"

"Al, please. I'm not a regular professor, and I don't stand on formalities. Al, please."

The blonde girl nodded. "Ok. Um, Al, can you tell us about the wartime movies? Specifically, how that happened? Some critics have said that…"

Al held up his hand. "Yeah, ok. The wartime thing. I know you've probably read or heard something about how I supposedly got out of being in the war because of my name. Yes, my father is Harry Potter, but it wasn't like that. The Ministry decided that I could do more for morale and to build support for the war by making movies and personal appearances. Even though I wasn't in uniform I was part of the army, and that meant that I had to follow orders, and my orders were to make movies. Did I like it? Yes and no. Yes, I was making movies, but it was hard because my friends and family were out there on the front lines." Al grew silent, as he remembered the day that Hugo told him about Erin's death. He closed his eyes for a moment, but then looked out intently to the class. "A lot of people died, including my first wife. Some of the people I went to Hogwarts with didn't make it back. I had a hard time dealing with that until I met a woman in a shop one day; she told me how much she enjoyed the movie that had just come out because it gave her a chance to get away from worrying. Her son was in Sweden at the time, and the movie took her away from the war, thinking about her son and all of the difficulties of life at that time. Most of you were probably too young to remember a lot of what happened then, but trust me, getting away from the war wasn't easy to do. That woman's comment stuck with me for a long time and I realized that even though I wasn't out there on the front lines I was doing my part for the war effort."

That seemed to satisfy Francine Rimbaud, and suddenly Al felt more relaxed. For the rest of the class period he engaged the students in a discussion on why they were taking the class, told a few stories about his previous roles and eventually remembered to go over the course goals and the first assignment.

"Ok, we'll meet again on Thursday and have our first exercise. I'm available during my office hours which are on the handouts. See you on Thursday."

The other class went fairly well, as it was a slightly more advanced class, but Albus followed the same pattern of talking to the students about his experiences and answered questions. Luckily nobody had asked for an autograph or acted like crazy fans, so at least he had that going for him. Hermione hadn't advertised the fact that Al would be taking over Professor Greene's classes, so there weren't any students in the classes that were only there to see Al. Albus was drinking his fifth cup of tea that day when his office door opened without a knock.

"Delyth! Happy anniversary, love. What brings you by?

As Delyth walked over and slumped into the chair in front of his desk Al knew it couldn't be good. "Looks like I'll be working from home for a while. Good thing we've magically expanded Grimmauld, Al. We're going to be a mini-St. Mungo's."

"What? What's wrong? Are the girls…?"

Delyth ran her hands through her hair. "I just spoke to Lavinia Ryder-Smythe a few moments ago. Al, the girls have mumblemumps."

Al rolled his eyes. "Merlin, how'd they get that?"

"One of the kids at preschool. It's not just the girls, though. I've been on the Floo with Rosie, your sister, Gin Weasley…Al, all of the kids are coming over to Grimmauld. I'm meeting your Gran after I pick up the girls and we're quarantining all of them at the house. We've got the most room, and…"

Al started doing some mental arithmetic. "Hold on a moment. How many little ones are we talking about?"

Delyth put her head in her hands. "At least eight, maybe more. Your gran is contacting everyone. She thinks they were probably all exposed at your parent's barbeque last weekend." After looking up at Al, Delyth smiled. "Molly also told me that you had contacted her about watching the girls tonight. Any plans?"

"Yeah, so much for that. Bugger. I had to make those reservations weeks ago. Happy anniversary, Healer Delyth."

"Happy anniversary, love." Delyth got up, gave Al a kiss and headed for the door. "So much for a nice, quiet night out."

* * *

When Al arrived at Grimmauld later that day the house was a hive of activity. Lily met him first, and she didn't say a word; instead she just shook her head and headed upstairs. As Al made his way into the kitchen he found Granny Molly, his mum and Delyth making a large batch of toast.

"So what's the total? Good Merlin, that's a lot of toast." Al kissed Delyth on the cheek and sat down at the table. "So how many patients are there in St. Grimmauld's Place?"

Rose walked into the kitchen and sat down next to Al. "Fourteen. You might want to sleep over at our place tonight, it's just Simon and the baby there."

Before Al could say anything his gran patted him on the shoulder, a plate of toast in the other hand. "I'm sure Albus will want to help out, won't you, dear?"

"Sure, Gran. Be glad to help." Al looked over to Rose and she mouthed "sorry" to him.

"Is the toast ready yet? I swear that lot's a bunch of whingers." Al's uncle Ron sat down at the table. "Thank Merlin, reinforcements."

Al looked surprised. "What are you doing here? Don't you have Ministry…"

Ron waved him off. "We're all taking shifts and I rescheduled a meeting. It was going to be bloody boring, anyway." Ron turned from Al to his daughter. "Rosie, any chance of a cup of tea?"

Rose gave her father a look from across the table that Al recognized as the famous "look" that he and Hugo had received from Hermione when they were little.

"Oh all right, I'll get it myself." Ron stood up from the table and winked at Al. "You'd think I'd get some appreciation for my stories, but no, have to fix my own cup of tea. Want one, Al?"

"Sure."

As Ron fixed the tea Al looked over to a large piece of parchment that was stuck to the refrigerator by magnets. There he could read the room assignments of the children. Maeve, his oldest daughter was sharing her room with Karen, Mione and Scorpius' oldest. Noelle, his youngest daughter was sharing her room with Lyra, Mione's youngest, as well as James' daughter Circe and Freddie's daughter Gwennog. "So Noelle's room is full of three year old little girls, that's got to be interesting."

Delyth finished buttering the toast, sat the plate down on the counter and shook her head at her husband. "She was excited until she figured out she didn't feel well. Maeve and Karen just want to be in bed and hear stories."

"That's the easy part." Ron shook his head. "We put Nigel in with Walter, but he didn't want to be in the same room with his older brother, so Nigel's in with Graham, Rory, Jimmy and Vincent."

That made Al laugh. It was no wonder that his uncle Ron was over; after all, his grandsons were here. Between Rose's five boys and Hugo's one Ron was surrounded by little boys, and he took great pleasure in spoiling them rotten. Add in HR and Lily's boy as well as James Sirius Potter, Jr. and it was a mass of pranks and craziness that Ron couldn't ignore.

"Oh, Lily, I forgot. Artie's starting to swell now." Ron nodded towards Lily. "Hard to make out what he's saying, so be ready."

Al leaned back and took a sip of tea. He'd always wanted kids, but this was ridiculous. With the boys' ages being ten, eight, two seven year-olds, five and three little three year-olds that was going to be interesting. But the girls? Maeve was six and Karen was five, but a room full of four three year-olds? At least nobody was in nappies. Nappies, that made him think of something. "Hey Rose, you said the baby was with Simon. Did the babies miss this?"

She nodded. "Yes, Malcolm is at home with Simon, Alice is at home with little Neville and Mione is still nursing Petal, so she we decided she'd better stay away from here. I'm just glad they only get this once. Poor Artie, though, stuck in here with a bunch of little kids. Victoire said that Dorrie had it when she was small, so she won't miss any classes at Hogwarts. Can you imagine, getting mumblemumps in your first year?"

* * *

Delyth walked out of Noelle's room quietly, shutting the door as softly as possible. It had taken her a lot longer to get them all down; even with the mumblemumps not yet fully in bloom she thought they would be tired, but instead she had to tell them all of the stories she knew, even repeating Babbity Rabbity once by request. A few steps away she gently opened the door to Maeve's room. After a peek inside she knew what she had to do. After making her way downstairs she found her mother-in-law almost asleep in Al's big chair by the fireplace. "Ginny? I think you need to see this."

Ginny perked up immediately. "What's wrong? Who is it?"

Delyth smiled and shook her head. "Nothing's wrong, it's just…hold on, I'll be right back."

Ginny looked over to her goddaughter, who was stretched out asleep on the sofa, her head in Hugo's lap. While Virginia slept soundly her husband snored like a dragon. Ginny there was no doubt that Hugo was definitely his father's son.

"Ok, follow me." Delyth stood nearby with a camera in her hands. "You've got to see this."

Delyth and Ginny walked quietly up the stairs until they reached Maeve's room. After softly opening the door the two women stood silently. Ginny took out her wand and cast a silencing spell around her and her daughter-in-law while Delyth pointed the camera towards the bed.

Three sleeping forms lay on the pink and yellow flowered duvet; Al was in the middle, a book on his lap, while the sleeping forms of his daughter Maeve and Karen Malfoy slept on either side of him, their little bare legs sticking out from under their pajamas. Their heads were tucked into his chest, and his tattooed arms surrounded both of them. Al was wearing a feathery tiara that Maeve had received from Ginny and Harry for her last birthday, a definite contrast against his dark hair and the five o-clock shadow on his face. Delyth raised the camera and took several pictures; after making sure she had the shots Delyth tapped Ginny on the arm and the two women exited the bedroom as silently as possible.

When they arrived downstairs Ginny turned to Delyth. "You have to give me a copy of that picture. That was priceless."

"You haven't seen the latest ones, have you? I just put them in the albums. Let me show you."

For the next hour or so Ginny and Delyth sat in the kitchen, photo album spread over the table. Even though the newest pictures were at the back Ginny wanted to start at the beginning of the album, and Delyth gladly acquiesced. The pictures went by slowly as Delyth and Ginny commented on the scenes: Al and Delyth bringing home Maeve, wrapped tightly in her Molly knitted baby blanket. Brendan and Maeve Doyle sitting on the sofa at Grimmauld, holding baby Maeve. Al asleep in his favorite chair with Maeve on his chest. Delyth sitting in a rocking chair with Maeve, the light from the window casting shadows that moved back and forth over them as Delyth rocked and fed the baby. A series of pictures from birthdays, Christmas and Easter with Maeve in little dresses, pulling at her shoes, taking off her little bonnet and then a picture of Maeve pulling herself up and peeking out of the window of Hank Boyd's car. Another series of pictures showed Maeve getting older, and then Delyth stood on a beach in a swimsuit sticking out her pregnant stomach, mirrored by Maeve who wore a little pink swimsuit and tried to stick out her stomach. Soon Noelle arrived, on Christmas Day, and Al held her in the chair at St. Mungo's. Pages turned, the girls grew older, and soon they were at the last picture; Al sat at a small table in the playroom with the girls, all of them wearing fancy clothes and feathery tiaras drinking pretend tea.

"You know, Delyth, I would never have guessed that Albus would look good in a feathery pink tiara, but he certainly does. He's a good father, isn't he?"

Delyth nodded. "Completely. He's so patient with them. Sometimes I wonder if I should just apparate straight to St. Mungo's and check myself in, but he's never like that. How did you manage?"

Ginny laughed. "Well, sometimes I didn't. There were a few times, right before Albus went to Hogwarts, when I told Harry that he was in charge and I just had to leave for a few hours. When they were older it was somewhat easier, but by that time Lily was intent on bothering the boys, and it became a complete nightmare. I'm surprised James will even go into the kitchen here; I had a small stool that was his time-out corner, and he spent so much time there."

"Oh thank Merlin. I thought it was just me." Delyth propped her chin up with her hand, elbow planted on the table. "Good to know nobody expects me to be Molly. Or Rosie. I don't know how she does it; five boys?"

"Rosie and my mum are in a class by themselves. Now don't say anything, because I'll deny it, but most of us are in the same boat." Ginny shook her head. "Angelina, Hermione, Melody…we've all done it. We'd just had enough of stinky nappies, vomit, toys everywhere, you name it, and we gave our children to their grandparents or godparents and took some time off. I know Al's done that for you, though, hasn't he?"

"I don't know how he knows, but he always realizes I'm at my wit's end before I do. Thank you for taking the girls on those occasions."

"Harry and I love it. Al's so much like him when it comes to children. I'd be ready to body-bind the little blighters and Harry would come in and talk to them quietly, they'd apologize and soon everything would be fine. Either that or he'd take them over to Ron and Hermione's or The Burrow. It's much easier with grandchildren; we get to spoil them rotten and send them home."

"Oh yes, and then I get to hear how Grammy Ginny let them eat all the biscuits they want, how they got to play in your garden and didn't need to take baths. Thanks, Ginny."

"It should be payback for Al, but I'm sorry. I'll try to remember that next time you'll be the one undoing the fun. You know, Delyth, you're a good mum. Just remember to Floo me when they start talking about boys or sneaking out to ride brooms."

"Any tea?" Virginia Weasley stood leaning against the doorframe and rubbed her eyes. "I've got the night shift."

Ginny Potter left shortly after having a cup of tea with Delyth and Virginia, leaving Delyth to show Virginia the pictures from the photo album. It was after Ginny left that Virginia asked about the album, so Delyth sat back and commented when Virginia asked about specific photos.

"Delyth, what was the last thing that was printed about Al in the gossip magazines?" Virginia took a sip of tea and arched her eyebrow.

"Something horrible about how he was taking a year off of acting because his romance with some little tart broke up. Oh, I'm sorry, I caught them and made them break up. You know, the usual; I'm the wicked Welsh witch that all actresses are afraid of."

Virginia laughed. "Well we all know that's not true. Of course, _Celebrity Wizard Weekly_ never has pictures like these." Gin tapped her finger on the photo of Al having a dress-up tea with his daughters. "If something like this was in the magazines…"

"Gin Weasley! You are horrible!" Delyth laughed. "That's a horribly wonderful idea. We will have to tell Al first, though. And instead of that magazine, let's Floo your mum and see about _Witch Weekly_. Not right now, of course. What time is it?"

Gin looked at her watch. "Half two in the morning. Get some sleep; we'll talk about it at breakfast."

* * *

Three weeks later Al sat in his messy office at Dumbledore University looking at the latest copy of _Witch Weekly_. He'd reluctantly agreed to Gin and Delyth's plan, even going as far as speaking with a reporter that his godmother Melody had recommended, but now that it was in print he wasn't sure. The magazines would be distributed later that day; his copy was one of the first ones off of the press, courtesy of Melody. He didn't mind showing a more private side of his life, but he didn't want his daughters to have to go through what he did. If he had a Galleon for every time someone said that he looked just like his father he'd be able to buy four Quidditch teams. That thought led him down an enjoyable path, and he was imagining being James' boss when he heard a knock at the door.

"It's open."

"How's it going, Professor?" Mike Greene stood in the doorway. His gray hair was pulled back into his usual ponytail, but this time the hair framed a very tan face.

"Mike! When'd you get back? Come on in." Al sighed deeply. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you."

Mike sat down and laughed. "That bad? Come on, it's just the 101 and 102 classes."

Albus shook his head. "It's not that, they're not bad, it's just…Mike, I'm not a professor. I don't know who's had a harder time, them trying to learn or me trying to teach them. At least I know what I don't want to do when I quit acting. Wait, it's not like that, it's just…"

After Mike's laughter subsided he nodded at Al. "Much easier to just do it than to tell them how, isn't it? And when they don't get it, or your techniques don't work for them, how do you explain it?"

"Exactly! I mean, you left great notes and the text is good, it's just…are you visiting or returning?"

"Returning. California is nice, but the movie stalled after a sixth re-write and we changed directors twice. I think I've had it with Muggle movies. Besides, Cho was anxious to get back. I know she wouldn't say it but she's missed Hogwarts more than she thought she would. Then there's Jasmine. I know she's our only grandchild, and she starts Hogwarts next year, but to Cho it was like we were on the moon and might never come back."

"Thank Merlin. So you want to teach today?"

"No, I've got a few things to do, Al. Why don't you finish today and then I can take it up again on Thursday. That work for you?"

"Absolutely. Ok, class starts in a few minutes, I should probably head over there."

Mike nodded. "Go ahead and tell them I'll be back on Thursday."

The completely unexpected conversation with Mike Greene made Al forget about the article in _Witch Weekly_, but the moment he arrived in class it was immediately brought to his attention; every student sat at their desk with a copy of _Witch Weekly_ in front of them, covering their faces.

"Very well done, nicely played." Al sat his things down and sat behind the desk. "Ok, put those away for a moment. I've got an announcement."

A large amount of shuffling went on, but eventually all of the students paid attention to Al.

"This will be the last time I'll be teaching your class. Professor Greene just stopped by my office and he'll be taking over on Thursday. Since I'm not in charge of things anymore I figured we'd just make this a discussion class period. Anything you want to ask me is fair game, but I reserve the right not to answer. Work for you?"

After a succession of nodding Al moved from behind the desk and moved in front, sliding up until he was sitting on the top of the desk with his legs dangling over the side.

"Al, can you tell us about the magazine article? Did you plan that?"

"Sort of, Francine. My, um, well she's my god-sister, I guess you call it, she and my wife came up with the idea. I'm sure you all saw the gossip that's been in the magazines about me and the actress that was on my last film. My wife thought it would be a good idea to show the real me, the one that isn't all dressed up at an event. Contrary to what the press and most people think, it's not a very glamorous life."

"You look great in pink feathers, by the way." Francine laughed, and the rest of the class laughed with her.

As Al sat on the desk he saw the photo from the magazine, and he smiled as he thought of his two little daughters and how seriously they went about their pretend tea party. "Hey, it's what the role called for."

* * *

Later that night, after Maeve and Noelle were soundly asleep Al slid into bed, lit his reading lamp with his wand and levitated a book off of the shelf and onto the bed. Delyth glanced over at him and sat down her book.

"Feeling lazy tonight, are we?"

Al looked at her strangely, and then realized what was different. Her hair was piled into a messy bun on the top of her head, she was wearing one of her favorite old nightgowns, but something was…and then he got it. "When'd you get glasses?"

"This morning. I've been putting it off for a while now, but I'm not getting any younger, you know. Forty is just around the corner."

Al reached over and took off her glasses. "Two years, and you know I don't care about that."

Delyth took back her glasses and put them on. "Yes, I know you don't care, but I do. We can't all age as gracefully as you and your father."

"Right. I'm probably going to lose my hair eventually, you know. Genetic. Passed down from your mum's father, and Grandpa Arthur doesn't have much hair left."

Delyth closed her book and looked over to Al with a sardonic smile. "I doubt that. When we take Noelle to Hogwarts her friends will want to know why her father is with the old woman. Eventually I'll just be a mass of complicated support undergarments and wrinkles and you'll still look like you do now. Either I'm cursed or you are, I just can't figure out which."

"Stop it. You know that won't happen. I don't care if your arse is as big as a hippogriff's."

"After Noelle it is."

Al sighed. "Come on, Delyth, that's a load of dragon droppings. You have a perfectly wonderful arse."

Delyth took off her glasses. "Turn of the lights, Al."

The next morning, in Al's mind, was perfect. When the alarm went off he and Delyth got out of bed, took turns in the shower and while Delyth got dressed and did her hair Al put on a pair of jeans and an old shirt and headed towards Noelle's room.

Noelle was his morning girl, always happy to wake up and head downstairs for breakfast. Al shook her slightly. "Morning, Noelle. Time to wake up and have breakfast. Come on, sweetie."

The little brown-haired girl rolled over and opened her eyes, her stuffed dragon wrapped tightly in her arms. "Daddy!"

Al picked her up and lodged her little butt on his hip. "Let's go wake up your sister."

The two Potters walked a few feet down the hall and opened the door to the extremely pink bedroom of Al's oldest daughter. Al tried the same thing, he shook Maeve slightly and called her name, but nothing worked. With Noelle still in his arm he opened the pink and yellow flowered curtains, letting the sun stream into the room an onto Maeve's face. The six year-old flung her arm over her eyes, causing her dark red hair to spread out over the pillow.

"Noelle, it looks like your sister doesn't want to wake up. Do you want to help?" After the little girl nodded Al sat her down on the foot of the bed. Noelle didn't need any encouragement to begin jumping up and down on her sister's bed, and eventually her jumping led her far enough up towards her sister that she landed on Maeve's foot, tumbling forward until she landed on her sister.

"Noelle! Dad, get her off!" Maeve sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Not funny."

Noelle got back to her feet and began jumping again. "Mae, Mae, Mae!"

Al grabbed her and returned her to his hip. "Come on, you little pygmy puff, let your sister wake up. Come on, Maeve, time for breakfast and then school."

Maeve slid back into bed and pulled the covers over her head, but Al was ready and pulled the duvet off of the bed.

"Daddy!"

Noelle laughed and Al put a finger to her lips to quiet her. "Come on, Maeve, or you'll miss Mummy before she goes to work."

That was enough to get Maeve out of bed, and soon she followed Al and Noelle downstairs. Once they were seated at the kitchen table Al began to make breakfast. Delyth came downstairs soon after that, kissed each of her messy-haired daughters and sat down between them.

"Al, I forgot to tell you last night, but we're going over to Hermione and Ron's tonight for supper. I'm not sure what it's about; Hermione was being very secretive."

"Ron, Ron, Ron, Ron, Ron! Broom!" Noelle practically bounced in her chair. "Wanna go now!"

Delyth cocked her head and looked at Al, and he looked away quickly towards the bacon. His Uncle Ron couldn't resist letting the girls fly around on toy brooms whenever they visited, and while Maeve thought it was just ok Noelle thought it one of the best things in the world.

"We can't go right now, Noelle; Mummy and Uncle Ron have to work. We'll go after you get back from school, ok?"

"Can I have coffee?"

Al and Delyth looked at Maeve, and then at each other. Al shrugged, so Delyth decided to ask. "Why do you want coffee, Maeve?"

"Granpa Hank drinks it. I wanna try it."

Al got down the coffee, pulled out the French press that they infrequently used and made coffee. After it was finished brewing he pulled a small coffee cup out of the cabinet and poured a cup of black coffee. He cast a slight cooling charm over the cup, slid it over to Maeve, and everybody watched as she took a drink. Not surprisingly she made a horrible face.

"That's bad!" She pushed the cup away from her. "Can I have punkin juice?"

"Please. Can I have pumpkin juice, please." Delyth picked up the coffee and handed it to Al, who took it and set it on the counter and replaced the coffee with a plate of scrambled eggs.

Soon the entire Potter family sat at the table and ate breakfast, discussing the plans for the day and assuring Noelle that she would get to see Uncle Ron. After Maeve was promised that Aunt Hermione would read her a book the rest of the morning meal went smoothly until Delyth looked at her watch.

"Ok, I need to be going or I'll be late. You little pixies be good for your father and be good at school. I'll see you when work is done, ok?" Delyth kissed them on the tops of their heads, blew a kiss at Al, left the kitchen headed towards the fireplace.

It was after the sounds of the Floo had died away that Al looked at his daughters and had a small, sinking feeling. "Did Mummy lay out your clothes last night?"

Noelle didn't answer; instead she kept enthusiastically eating her eggs. Maeve shook her head. "Mummy forgot. Can I pick out my clothes today, Daddy?"

"Me too!" Noelle waved a fork in Al's direction.

Al rubbed his forehead. "Ok, finish up and you can pick out your clothes. And we need to do something about your hair."

* * *

Lavinia Ryder-Smythe sat in the breakroom, drinking a cup of tea. She always liked watching the students arrive with their parents or caretakers, but she usually didn't speak to them as she didn't want to break the routine. But when the latest parent arrived she laughed, sat down her tea and walked out to speak to him.

"Albus, I must say the girls look very…interesting today."

Al nodded, and both of his girls went over to Lavinia and gave her a small hug. Maeve broke off quickly, waved to her father and headed down to her little classroom. Noelle held up her hands, indicating that she wanted to be picked up, so Lavinia complied.

Al shrugged. "They picked out their own clothes today. Bet you can't tell Maeve's favorite color is pink."

"I would never have guessed, Al. Pink jumper, pink shoes, pink hair bow…hard to say, really." Lavinia laughed and then tickled Noelle. "And as for you, Noelle."

Al ran his hand through his hair. "Yeah, about that. Don't tell Delyth, please. I'll make sure her clothes are laid out for tomorrow."

"Its fine, Al. I've seen worse, trust me. Ok, Noelle, give Daddy a kiss and then we'll go see Miss Pennyworth."

Noelle leaned towards Al, and he gave her a kiss. "I'll pick them up after school. See you later, Mrs. Ryder-Smythe. Bye, Noelle."

"Goodbye, Al." After Al left Lavinia turned to Noelle. "Ok, you, let's go find your teacher." With Noelle in her arms Lavinia walked through the brightly colored hallways until she reached the Three and Four Year-Old room. "Miss Pennyworth, here's Noelle."

Lavinia sat her down, and Noelle ran over to where several other children were playing with blocks. The teacher, though, looked at Noelle strangely and then walked over to Lavinia.

"Is she wearing what I think she's wearing?"

"Yes, Miss Pennyworth, two different shoes, two different colored socks, a bright green jumper and a pair of purple corduroy trousers. She picked out her own clothes today. Oh, and Mr. Potter would prefer that you don't mention this to his wife."

The young teacher shook her head. "You know, some days I still can't believe Albus Potter's daughter is in my classroom. I think the first parent conference I didn't say more than ten words. He's a really good actor."

Lavinia watched Noelle pick up a block and hand it to a little boy. "Yes, Miss Pennyworth, he is a good actor." As Lavinia left the room, she also thought that Albus Potter was also a very good father.


End file.
